The Not So Jolly Swagman In The Billabong
by ImaTVJunkie
Summary: Booth & Brennan have brought Christine on holiday to Australia. Their intention is to have fun, sun and finally relax as a family. But things don't go quite to plan. This story is AU. Set in Australia. I'm not sure how many chapters it will be, we'll see.
1. Chapter 1

Booth and Brennan sat on their pool lounges and watched their five year old daughter Christine playing in the kiddy pool at their beachside hotel. "Bones, I cannot tell you how much I'm enjoying being here. Like, really. Look around. It's fantastic here! The pool, the sun, the drinks! Thank you!" he added as a waiter offered him a cocktail from a cart. "I mean, look at this place! I told you Australia was the perfect place for our vacation" Brennan smiled behind her book. She loved seeing him so happy, relaxed, perhaps a little too loosened up by his third, or was that his fourth, cocktail? "I admit it. You were right"

Booth sat up straight, spilling his drink in the process "What? What did you just say?" he asked excitedly. Brennan smiled wider, yes, definitely his fourth "Nothing. I just agreed that it was a good idea" she said. He flopped back down onto his lounge, spilling a bit more of his drink, but not noticing. The straw finding its way onto the floor as he took a large draught of the bright pink, fruity drink he had become so fond of since arriving. "You wanna drink honsey?" he asked absently. Brennan smirked at his increasingly messy vocabulary. "No thanks. I have my water. I'm fine for now." She looked up and watched Christine lying on her back kicking her feet in the shallows of the pool.

"I think Christine has had enough sun for now. I'm going to go get her and take her back to the room for a bath. Are you coming?" she asked Booth. Who responded with a unintelligible mumble and she realised he had nodded off to sleep. His glass in his hand, the contents now in a puddle between his legs as he had let it tip over on its side. She smiled as she gently pulled the glass from his hand, adjusted the umbrella over him so that he would remain in its shade and went to collect Christine.

She was lying on the couch reading a book. Christine was curled up on the floor on a large cushion sleeping when the door was flung open. Booth hesitated in the doorway, holding onto it to steady himself. The sun combined with the abundance of alcohol he had consumed had taken their toll and he admitted he was a little drunk right now. He held his finger up to this mouth and hissed _shhhh_ and tried unsuccessfully to tiptoe into the room. Brennan glanced up and him and pursed her lips. A rather large stain evident on the crotch of his board shorts where his drink had spilled. He winked at her with a sloppy smirk, and continued into the bedroom where she heard him flop, particularly loudly onto the bed. Snoring quickly ensued. She walked over to the door and pulled the door closed.

Their plans for dinner out by the pool clearly shelved right now, considering his condition. But then again, they had been working hard lately. Booth had closed some particularly nasty cold cases recently and he was emotionally and mentally spent. So he had a few too many drinks on their first day in paradise. She could understand him wanting to relax, although it would have been nice to go out on their first night here. Never mind, she thought, we have a month here. Plenty of nights to eat out. Plus Christine is exhausted after the long flight, she acknowledged to herself, looking over at her sleeping daughter. She picked up the room service menu and grabbed the phone and dialled the number.

Brennan answered the knock on their door and smiled at the waiter with their tray of food. "You're order Madam" he nodded to her. She opened the door and stepped to the side as the young man walked past her and deposited the tray on the dining table. She signed the tab and thanked him as she closed the door behind him. The smells emanating from the cloche made her mouth water. She looked at the clock. 6:00pm Quite early for dinner under normal circumstances. But after arriving here this morning, and spending an afternoon by the pool in the sun, she was tired and hungry. "Christine. Baby. Wake up honey. We have dinner!" she gently patted Christine's arm.

The little girl opened her eyes and stared at her mother blankly. Then looked around the room, not quite sure where she was for a moment. She blinked and then grinned "We're on holiday!" she squealed as she remembered. Brennan laughed and held her hands as she pulled her to her feet. "We are! And a nice man just brought us dinner". Christine clapped her hands and glanced around. "Where's Daddy?" she asked, just a little worried. Brennan led her over to the table "Daddy is very tired. He's already gone to bed. We'll put something in the refrigerator for him to eat when he wakes up."

She pushed Christine's chair closer to the table, brushed her hair back away from her face, tucking it behind her ears, then lifted the lids from the platters of food. There was crumbed chicken, steamed barramundi, fresh shrimp (or prawns as the Aussies called them), a large bowl of crisp salad, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and avocados tossed in a lemon myrtle dressing. Brennan licked her lips it all looked and smelled delicious. She served Christine some chicken and salad and gave her a little fish and prawns to try, and sat down to eat.

The door to the bedroom suddenly opened. A rather dishevelled Booth leaned against the doorframe. His face bright red. "Bones?" he croaked. "I don't feel so good". She put down her fork and stared at him, trying not to laugh out loud. Clearly she hadn't placed the umbrella in the right position, for he was terribly sunburned. She felt a little sorry, but brushed that off. After all, if he hadn't drunk so much, he wouldn't be in this position right now. And he did look very funny. She pulled her phone from her pocket and held it up and snapped several very unattractive shots of him. _Just for later_ she thought to herself with a grin.

Christine looked at her father, her mouth hanging open. She had never seen him look so terrible. "Daddy! Why is your face so red? Did you wet your pants?" she asked him, pointing at his shorts. Booth turned his attention to his daughter with a frown "What do you mean?" He glanced down and his face reddened even deeper under the sunburn as he saw the dark patch on his shorts. "What? No! What is that?" he mumbled as he headed for the bathroom. Twenty minutes passed before he sheepishly returned to the living room, showered and slightly tidier than he was before. "Guess I overdid it a little, huh?" he said to Brennan as he sat down at the table. He poured himself a large glass of ice water and popped the two pain killers into his mouth that she had placed in front of his plate, and washed them down. He refilled his glass with the cold water and drank that as well.

Christine sat with her chin in her hand watching her father. "Your face is so red!" she said. He looked over at her and gingerly fingered his forehead and cheek. The familiar sting of sunburn reminding him that he had fallen asleep outside. "It is honey. And it's not a good thing. Daddy didn't put his sun block on and now I'm all burned. So. You better put on your sun block every day so you don't look like me, OK?" he tried to turn it into a lesson, dismally. Christine simply laughed "You look so funny" and returned to her chicken.

He turned and stared at his plate which Brennan had filled with fish and salad. "Eat" she said. He gave her a doleful look, but she resisted the urge to smile at him. "Eat. I know you feel sick. But you need to eat a little something. Booth, really. You should have known better. Drinking so much when you were clearly jet lagged. I told you to drink the water, but no. You were on holidays and water was for _shmucks_, I believe was the term you used. Well, who's the shmuck now?" she asked him smugly as she forked tomato and avocado into her mouth and smiled as she chewed.

He hung his head and forked a small portion of barramundi into his mouth and chewed delicately. "This is pretty good" he said perking up a bit. He decided that he really didn't feel that bad any more, and began to eat. "Slowly Booth, or you'll be" Her sentence was cut off by him jumping up from the table and bolting for the bathroom. Brennan sighed _I tried to tell him. But no._ she thought to herself as she finished her salad. Booth appeared at the door of the bathroom and simply pointed to the bedroom and went back to bed.

"Shmuck" she murmured to herself laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

Booth sat on the edge of the water. The night sky was slowly giving way to the day ahead. He watched as the sun slowly peeked it's crest above the oceans darkness. A sliver of pure gold greeted his eyes. He sighed. The sky began to change, dark purples, gave way to streaks of pink and orange, like some invisible artist was using their brush to make strokes of colour across the dark canvas. The gold crescent started getting bigger, brighter, whiter. It's fingers of light stretching across the water, touching Booth's face and body with it's warmth.

Booth let himself drop back onto his beach towel and closed his eyes and smiled dreamily. He had sat here every morning for the past week doing the same thing. Watching the day break. Feeling the suns first warmth touch him. He grinned widely, his white teeth standing out against his tanned skin. He had been very careful since that first day when he got terribly sunburned. His skin was now the colour of brown berries. He was relaxed and calm and incredibly happy.

"Daddy!" Christine's voice carried across the sand as she ran towards him. He felt her land on the towel beside him. He opened his eyes and stared into her bright blue ones, her light brown hair blowing around her head in the light warm breeze. "Morning Daddy" she greeted him and kissed his cheeks and lips as she did every morning. He grabbed her and pulled her onto his chest and rolled from side to side making her giggle. She was the same colour as him, almost. Golden brown and shiny like a new penny.

Brennan came soon after, carrying two tall glasses of iced tea and a towel slung over her shoulder. Booth let go of Christine and reached up to take the glasses from her while she spread her towel next to his and sat down. She took one glass from Booth and leaned in to kiss him deeply. "Aww Mommy! Eww! Get a room!" Christine announced rather loudly. Booth and Brennan broke their kiss and turned to stare at their daughter "Where did you hear that?" Booth asked. Brennan was shaking her head "I don't think that's a very nice thing for you to be saying Christine!" she added. Christine was laughing and dancing around on the sand "They say it on TV" she answered then went running towards the water "Can we swim yet?" she called and she stomped in the wet sand at the water's edge making monster shaped footprints.

"She's your daughter" they echoed together, then laughed. Christine was a little precocious, intelligent and somewhat mischievous. The perfect mix of them.

"I'll go with her" Booth said, draining his glass. "You relax" he offered. He stood up and stretched his arms up into the air. Brennan tilted her head and stared at his body appreciatively. He was tanned and lean. He'd lost a few pounds around his belly while they were there. _probably because he's eating fresh salads and seafood rather than donuts and hotdogs_ she thought to herself. _He flexed his back and she licked her lips as the muscles popped and rippled in front of her. He turned around and all she could think about was running her tongue along that dent that ran from his hip down to_ "We won't be long!" Booth interrupted her daydream with a shout as he ran down to Christine.

She lay back and pulled the edge of the towel over her face, smiling widely, determined to continue that daydream.

* * *

"Ok. So we drive along the highway to here" Brennan pointed to a map, turning to look at Booth to make sure he was paying attention. He wasn't. He was watching a replay of an Australian Football game on TV out of the corner of his eye.

"Booth!" she exclaimed, gently punching him in the arm. "What? What. I'm listening!" he replied, rubbing at his arm "Ow, that hurt!" Brennan rolled her eyes "Just look, please? We drive to this point, then we turn off. There is a scenic route which takes us through the bush to the billabong! We avoid the traffic and the trucks. We will get to see some of the actual Australian country side!" she announced proudly.

"And we're on dirt roads and there probably won't be proper sign posts, if it's anything like home." Booth countered. He wanted to drive straight down the highway to their hotel, then drive out to the billabong, but Bones was excited. "Ok. We'll do it your way" he agreed. Brennan bounced up and down clapping her hands "It's going to be wonderful! We might see some native wildlife running free in the bush!" she exclaimed. "We'll see" Booth grumbled, still not happy about driving on the dirt roads.

They wandered down the beach later that day and stopped at the little beach side cafe that they had found the second day they were here. They sat at _their_ table. It was on edge of the sand, looking out at the ocean. "Evening folks! Want to start with the usual?" a cheerful young man asked them. He lay two menus on the table in front of Booth and Brennan, and then walked around and handed Christine a special children's menu "And how's my favourite little yankee?" he asked her ruffling her hair. "I'm very good thankyou Mike!" she replied giggling. Booth grinned "Thanks Mike. It's our last night here. We're off to Townsville in the morning!" he said. Mike smiled "Well I'll be sad to lose my best customers. But you'll have a great time I'm sure. There's so much to see in this country. You'll really only get to see a small part of it while you're here"

They drank champagne seeing as it was their last night. Christine was happy with fruit cocktails, made especially for her by the barman. A magical concoction of red, orange, green and purple layers that sat perfectly on top of one another in a tall glass. Christine of course loved to stir it up until it was the same colour as baby poop, and then announce to everyone that that was what she was drinking. Booth always laughed, while Brennan always cringed.

Christine was definitely her father's daughter when it came to her sense of humour. She was loud and brash, laughed fully and deeply, just like Booth did, and always seemed to find something funny in every situation. She and Booth would giggle and laugh together about odd, mundane things, and she could never quite understand what was so funny. And of course they would then laugh at her. She didn't mind. She loved that Booth had such a close relationship with his daughter. They were two peas in a pod, as Max often pointed out.

_I wonder if we have another child, will it be more like me?_ she wondered, watching them together. The thought of another baby was more prevalent in her mind lately. She missed having a baby to hold and cuddle. Christine was at that age where she didn't want to be cuddled on her lap. Well, on _her_ lap. She loved cuddles with her Dad, which hurt Brennan a bit, but she understood. Sort of.

They walked back to their hotel in the dark. Solar lamps lighting their way along the foreshore. They could hear crickets, and the occasional hoot of an owl as they walked. A green tree frog hopped across their path and disappeared into the grass. Christine got excited and wanted Booth to help her look for it. "No! Christine, you can't just go digging around in the grass at night! No baby. Come on" he pulled her hand and made her stand up. They continued walking with Christine skipping a little ahead of them.

_I'm going to miss this so much_ Booth thought to himself, wrapping his arm around Brennans shoulders and smiling down at her. They caught up to Christine who was was finally quiet. She was holding his hand and walking slowly with them. _yeah, this has been a great two weeks_

They spent the rest of the evening packing their bags. Brennan checked every room thoroughly, making sure they hadn't left anything behind. Their hire car was being delivered in the morning, first thing, and they would be on their way to the next part of their holiday _down under_.


	3. Chapter 3

"Bones. Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" he asked agitatedly as another unmarked dirt road went by. The temperature in the rental vehicle was rising rapidly and it wasn't because the air conditioning wasn't working. "yes. Yes Yes Yes! How many times must I tell you. I am an expert map reader and navigator. Booth glanced over at her frowning. "I'm going back to the GPS. I'm not so sure. We should have stayed on the main road and not taken the _scenic route_" He muttered, and started fiddling with the buttons on the navigator. "Yes, but then we would not be seeing the _actual_ outback, which is why we came here. **_BOOTH_**!" Brennan screamed so loudly that Christine, who had been napping in her booster seat woke up and started crying. Booth swerved suddenly to avoid the large red kangaroo that was sitting in the middle of the road staring at the approaching vehicle. The car skidded on the loose surface and started to plane across the road sideways. Booths hands were gripping the wheel so tightly that his knuckles were turning white and Brennan was turned round in her seat, seatbelt off trying to climb into the back seat with Christine. "Bones! don't do that! Stay in your seat!" he yelled at her.

He fought the car, holding the wheel steady and gently applying the brakes, gradually gaining control and bringing the car to a stop, albeit sideways in the middle of the road. He checked around him and pulled the car off onto the side of the road and let out a heavy sigh, perspiration running down the sides of his face and dripping onto his shirt. Glancing back he watched the large animal hop slowly down the middle of the road in the direction they had just come from, seemingly unperturbed by it's close encounter with their four wheel drive.

Booth's head was spinning slightly because he realised he had been holding his breath for the last two minutes. Brennan lifted her head and stared around her. She was half way between the front seat and the back seat clutching Christine to her, not daring to look at the scene which was spinning around the car. "We're OK. Bones. We're OK." He turned to reassure her. "What was that?" she finally managed to ask. Booth shrugged "I think it was a kangaroo! But I thought they were cute fluffy little things. That must have been six feet tall and weighed around 200lb!".

Brennan frowned thinking. "No, I think you're thinking of a wallaby. A male red kangaroo can get as big as you described. I think we were very lucky Booth. I've read stories about vehicles being overturned from hitting a red kangaroo!" Christine who had been asleep prior to this event, heard the word kangaroo and started looking around "Where's the kangaroo? I want to see it!". Brennan replied "Oh it hopped away honey. We'll see one when we get to the sanctuary. Maybe you can pat one there." She glared at Booth. _Sorry_ he mouthed, and turned back to face the road. He turned the ignition key hoping that the car would start. It did, thankfully. And he pulled back onto the dirt road and continued with their trip, paying much more attention to the road in front of him.

Forty five minutes later they arrived at their destination. The billabong sanctuary situated about four hours drive from Cairns. They had booked a hotel room in Townsville and were going to check in after they had visited the billabong. Brennan sat staring out the window, now, half wishing she had listened to Booth and they had driven straight down the highway to Townsville and checked into their hotel and left the sanctuary until tomorrow. But she was all gung-ho and excited about the drive to the billabong, and wanted to do it the other way around, as usual.

"We should have done it your way and taken the highway" she admitted. She let out a long sigh. "Don't worry about it Bones. I know what you're thinking. But it'll be fun. We can spend the whole afternoon here and then it's only a half hour drive back to the hotel. We're gonna see a real billabong!" Booth announced excitedly. She couldn't keep her frown, his excitement was contagious. "I suppose we can chalk that all down to part of our adventure" she admitted reluctantly, not willing to completely let herself off the hook for their near miss with one of Australia's largest mammals.

* * *

Booth parked the car and got out and stretched his arms high above his head, lunging left and right enjoying the pull of the muscles in his back. "Ohh look! Aussie hats!" he exclaimed and ran over to the stall where an array of Akubras hung, an assortment of colours, some with the traditional corks hanging from their brims. _Oh please no, don't let him get the one with the corks_ she thought as he started trying on various hats. "Hey Christine! How does Daddy look?" he asked excitedly. Of course he had on the hat with the corks hanging around it. "You look funny Daddy. What are those dangly things for?" Booth reached up and batted the corks hanging in front of his eyes, watching them swing back and forth. "I don't really know. But its so Australian!" he said. Brennan walked up and tried on a cream Akubra, without the corks. She looked in the dusty mirror at herself, quite liking what she saw. She could see the value of the hat, wide brimmed to keep the sun off her face, made to absorb perspiration and thereby creating a cooling effect. Plus it had a drawstring with a toggle on it to tighten up under the chin if the day was windy so the hat didn't blow off your head.

An elderly man stepped out of the building and stood watching them trying on hats. You folks interested in buying hats? he asked. "I think you might need a slightly larger size sir" he said to Booth who was wearing a hat that was sort of perched high above his ears. "The Akubra is our national hat you know. I'm guessing you folks are not from around here? He plucked a dark brown hat, without corks and handed it to Booth. Try this one. They are meant to sit low, just above your ears. The top, you crease like this" he demonstrated how to push in the top of the hat and pull the front into a peak, and then curled the brim down just slightly "and this helps keep the sun off your face better" he added as he did so. Brennan, followed his instructions and then replaced the hat on her head, nodding to herself. "So you say these are traditional?" she asked.

The man smiled widely. "Oh yes. They've been worn by Aussie farmers and bushmen and stockmen, for over 130 years. They were worn to war by our Diggers too." he looked at their confused faces "Diggers. Our soldiers are called that." he clarified. "Yeah, they're definitely a part of our tradition." He said, gently running his calloused fingers across the felt brim of a pink child's size hat. He quickly creased the top and popped it onto Christine's head. "Perfect!" he exclaimed and nodded. Christine grinned up at her father "Can I have this one Daddy? It's pink!" Booth and Brennan smiled at each other, admiring the others hats and nodded. "We're all going to get one!" Booth said, grinning at the man. "Come inside, we'll settle up there. You here to visit the billabong too?" he asked as he held the door open for them. "Thanks. We are." Brennan replied as she stepped past him into the air-conditioned shopfront.

More display racks with T-shirts, and caps, souvenirs and stuffed animals peeking out from racks mounted on the walls. The man stepped behind the counter and punched in some figures into the cash register and Booth handed over his credit card. "We'll probably be back on our way out." He nodded towards Christine who was knee deep in stuffed kangaroos, koalas and platypi. The man laughed. Well that's fine. He handed the card and the receipt back to Brennan, along with a map, key to a golf cart and information booklet. "Here's where we are" he pointed to a red star on the map. He then proceeded to point out the key places within the sanctuary. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it here." He then handed three bottles of cold water to Brennan, who started to pull out her wallet. "oh no. We always give our visitors water. It gets pretty warm out there. Don't want you getting a case of dropsy on us do we?" he said. "Dropsy?" she echoed, not understanding. "You know, dropping to the ground. Falling over from heat exhaustion?" he laughed. She stared at him for a moment, then understanding what he was saying smiled. "Oh, collapsing from heat stroke!" she said. He nodded and she took the water and thanked him again.

Booth and Christine were already outside waiting for her to join them. "This is going to be awesome!" he jigged excitedly up and down in time with Christine. Brennan smiled to herself, shaking her head, _and I always thought she would be just like me._ The three of them looked at the map and agreed on a route that would take them around the left hand side of the park and circle around to the large natural billabong in the middle that the park had been built around. Not many natural billabongs existed these days. The lack of water due to the constant cycle of drought had seen a lot of them disappear over the years.

They finally arrived at the billabong, parking their bright orange golf cart that they had used to travel in under a large gum tree. Christine ran excitedly to the edge of the water. "Booth! Stop her!" Brennan called, but Booth was already there, holding his daughters hand and staring at the beautiful scene in front of them. The water was perfectly still. Reflecting the trees that grew around the edges in it, like a mirror. Brennan walked up behind them and leaned her chin against his shoulder. "It's so beautiful" The sound of a kookaburra split the silence. His laugh echoing around them. A flurry of black feathers rose up from the base of a large coolabah tree. Shrieking in reply to the kookaburra.

Booth was taking photo's as Brennan referred to the booklet that Mr Bartlett, the parks caretaker had given her. "Christine! Look, red tailed black cockatoos!" she watched in wonder as the black mass rose up from the natural grasses along the edge of the water and swarmed like a black cloud above them, Then they disappeared. "Oh no. Did we frighten them away?" she despaired. "I'm sure they wouldn't go too far Bones. And we're not the only people to come here." He reassured her. "Come on. I want to go look at that weird bottle shaped tree over the other side. See it? Looks like it's got a big hole in the middle of it! I wonder if I could fit inside that?" he said as he grabbed Christine's hand and started to run around the water's edge.

"Booth! You shouldn't run! What if the ground is wet. You might" and just as she was about to hell slip. That's exactly what he did. His foot sliding through a mud patch concealed under some long grass. All he saw was his own foot flying up in front of his face as he landed heavily on his behind. Christine was still holding his hand and laughing uncontrollably at her father who was looking somewhat confused. "You fell in the mud Daddy!" she continued to giggle as Brennan caught up with them and stood looking down at him. "Booth! Honestly."

He shrugged and pushed himself up onto his elbows, wincing a little. "I think I tweaked my back a little" he started to say. "Oh no. Don't you dare tell me you've hurt yourself. I did not come half way around the world to have you laid up on a bed because you were stupid" she frowned at him. He stretched a little and sat up. "I'm OK. Promise. Just a bit, well you know. Embarrassed" he said. He reached out his hand, covered with mud hoping for a hand up. Brennan stood hands on hips staring at him. "I'm not touching that" she said, pointing to his hand. Booth, looked at his hand and of course, being Booth, he smelled it. "Eww! What is that!" he exclaimed trying to wash it off with bottled water and wipe whatever it was on the grass.

Brennan referred to the booklet again and smiling smugly. "Well, it says here that a large variety of animals use this watering hole regularly. So I'm guessing it could be one of many varieties of animal faeces, including kangaroo, wallaby, emu, platypus, echidna and possum!" she told him, barely containing her smile. Booth stared at her his mouth hanging open. Realising that he not only had it on his hand, it was probably on his back and he was more than likely sitting in animal poop. His shoulders dropped and he slowly got to his feet, trying to look behind himself to see what was now ingrained in the back of his pants. Brennan burst out laughing. "You are going to have to take those off before you get back in the car you know." Booths face was hilarious. He looked like a little boy who had been scolded. He nodded at her. "Fine. Can we just go round and look at the tree now?" he said trying to forget the state of his pants.

They walked together, carefully, around to the large bottle tree. There was a plaque near the base of it, explaining the history of the tree. "This tree is over 85 years old!" Brennan noted. "Really?" Booth asked. He was walking around the base trying to work out the diameter. "This is huge! It must be nearly twenty feet around!" he said as he came round from behind the tree. He pointed to another one. "Look! There's the one I saw from the other side of the billabong. See? I told you it had an opening. I'm gonna try to climb into it". Brennan shook her head, he would never grow up, not really. And she loved him for that. He would impart his sense of adventure and wonder into their daughter, who was already so much like her father. She was smart, granted, but lacked the inner restraint that she herself had. And, like her father she would run head first into things, and suffering the consequences later. _Of course she is only five. She may change yet. _She thought unconvincingly to herself.

Before she had a chance to warn him to be careful, he was already standing with his head poking inside the opening in the bottle tree. "It's really dark in here Bones! No! Dammit! My hat fell off! Do you have your pocket flashlight?" he called out to her. She delved into her pocket and pulled out the pen sized flashlight that she carried with her. He was waving his hand around, waiting for her to just push the light into it, which she did. He pushed his arm inside the tree and she could hear him making inquisitive noises. The next thing she knew he was hauling himself up into the opening to try and retrieve his hat. "Booth! Wait. What if there are spiders or snakes or something else in there?" she yelled at him as his feet disappeared from view. There was a dull thump. He didn't respond. "Booth?" she called as she stepped up to the tree, peeking inside. "Booth!" she yelled at him. His face appearing at the opening a big grin on it.

"I'm OK! There's something, like a mattress or some sort of padding down here. I admit, I did sort of slip, but I was fine because it broke my fall."

Brennan scrunched up her nose "Why would there be a mattress in the base of a tree?"

Booth's eyebrows furrowed together, his bottom lip pushed out "How do I know? Maybe it's there so if people are camping and it rains, there's somewhere for them to sleep? Maybe." he hesitated trying to think "Maybe someone left it here by accident? Maybe someone dumped it?" Brennans head started tilting to the side, her _I seriously doubt that_ look starting to creep onto her face. Booth frowned, sucking in his lips "Well, I don't know! I'm just throwing around ideas!" he defended himself.

Brennan's brow furrowed for a moment "Clearly, the park wouldn't leave mattresses in the base of a tree. It would break down over time. Become mouldy. It would interfere with the natural habitat of the insects and wildlife that would inhabit the tree." Booth was still inside the tree, bouncing slightly up and down on the mattress. Christine was laughing at him as he proceeded to pull a funny face every time he appeared in the hole.

"Booth! Are you even listening to me?" Brennan asked, frustrated at his lack of concentration. She wasn't convinced that the mattress was put there deliberately. "Booth?" she called "Please, just stop bouncing for minute."

He stopped, gripping the edge of the tree and stared at her with his best serious face. "I'm listening. Just because I'm bouncing doesn't mean I wasn't listening Bones" She shook her head at him "I think you should remove the mattress. It doesn't belong there. And we can take it to the owner of the park and he can dispose of it. I think someone has dumped it there." she finished, satisfied that she had made the best decision.

"Bones, how would someone carry a mattress into the park and not be seen? You have to come through those gates at the front!" Booth suggested. He really didn't want to have to haul that mattress up and push it out the hole in the tree. God knows what insects or slimy goop was underneath it. "Just do it Booth" she said, her eyes telling him she meant business.

Booth sighed heavily "I'll probably get my clothes dirty" he complained. "Like that even matters Booth. You have been sitting in animal faeces and mud. It can't possibly get any worse." she countered. He clamped his lips together staring at her for a moment, but knew he wouldn't win this one.

"Fine" he snapped and disappeared.

"God this thing weighs a tonne!" Brennan heard Booths voice call. "Surely it's not that heavy Booth. It's only foam!" she called back. She could hear him grunting "It might only be foam, but it's extremely heavy foam! OK, Bones? Make Christine go sit somewhere away from here. If this thing has spiders or worse on it and it comes tumbling out of the tree, they might start running all over the place. I don't want her getting scared or bitten." he yelled out.

Brennan pulled Christine away from the tree and had her sit on a bench that was about fifteen feet away from the tree. "Just sit here honey" she said and turned to walk back to the tree. Suddenly she turned back to Christine "maybe just sit with your feet up on the seat part. OK?" she added. Christine stared at her mother questioningly. "Just do it, please?" Brennan asked. Christine nodded and crossed her legs on the seat. She pulled her gameboy out of the little bag she carried and proceeded to play a game. Unconcerned, or interested in her parents activities.

"OK Booth. I'm ready." Brennan called out to him. He was shuffling and grunting. "There's something not right here Bones. This thing is way too heavy!" he called out breathlessly.

"It's probably gotten wet over time and has absorbed the water and dirt. Just push it up to the hole and I'll try to help pull it out" she answered him.

More grunting and suddenly "Here it comes!" Booth yelled.

Brennan stumbled backwards as the mattress hit the opening in the tree. She stood staring at it, unable to move. "Well? Aren't you going to grab it and help pull it out?" she heard Booth's muffled voice from behind the mattress.

"Uh, Booth? There is something attached to the mattress on this side" she called out to him as she approached the tree.

"Really? What?" he called as he tried to push it up higher.

"Booth, just stop pushing!" she yelled. "I think you might have to just pull it back into the tree and get out of there!" she added.

Two black hollows where eyes once sat were staring at her. There was some fabric gathered around the head and something glinting in the light. The metal tag of a zipper. It seemed to be encased in some sort of sleeping bag or quilt of some kind that was attached to the mattress.

* * *

Booth sat down next to Brennan at the base of the tree. "I thought it felt a bit soft when I landed in the bottom. I may have squashed him a bit." Booth said pulling a face. "Booth. You were bouncing on him like a trampoline! You've probably crushed what was left of him." she said, covering her eyes with her hand, contemplating the damage he had done to the body remains. "Why do you think he was in there?" she asked turning to look at Booth.

He shook his head. "I have no idea Bones." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled triple 0, the Australian equivalent of 911. He spoke to the operator, giving his name, whereabouts, and brief details of what they had found, leaving out the bit about using the evidence as a bouncing castle.

"We have to wait until the police arrive. I suppose we better go and let Mr Bartlett know what we found" he said and stood up, holding out a hand to Brennan.

"Booth, what if he's a murder victim?" she asked quietly, glancing back at Christine who was still happily playing her game, blissfully unaware of her parent's gruesome discovery.

"Awe come on Bones! We're on holidays!"


	4. Chapter 4

Booth finished explaining to Mr Bartlett what they had found. He had taken him quickly to the tree to show him and they were now back at the shop where Brennan and Christine were waiting.

"Bloody hell! I had no idea! I mean, jeez, he's been there all that time and nobody knew!" Mr Bartlett exclaimed.

Brennan asked "So, what was that thing he was in?" she had been wondering ever since they found the body.

"Oh the swag? Yeah, that's what a lot of people who go bush use. It's convenient, you know? You just roll it up and it goes in a pack on your back. The swaggies and stockmen use to use them a lot in the old days, when they were out on muster." Brennan's face was screwed up while she was looking at him. Mr Bartlett noticed her confused expression "Swaggies love. Um, they were blokes that used to just travel around on foot, picking up odd jobs here and there. Mostly mustering or shearing. Stockmen or Drovers muster the cattle or sheep. You know, gather them up and drive them to the next watering hole."

Brennan was struggling on two counts. His drawling accent and his explanation. "A swag is like a sleeping bag that is attached to a thin mattress. It just gives a bit of comfort while on the ground, you know? Sometimes they even have little rain shelters attached to the part where your head is. They're a bloody marvel." Booth stepped in "Um, do you think you could talk a little slower. We're having trouble understanding your accent" he said, cringing a little internally.

Mr Bartlett laughed loudly "My accent? Mate, I can barely understand a bloody word you say!" The two men laughed loudly together. "How about you just call me Davo." he said to Booth and Brennan. "That's what all me mates call me. Less stuffy than Mr Bartlett." Booth grinned, I'm Seeley Booth" he held out his hand, "Everyone calls me Booth, and this is Bones, um Brennan, err Temperance?" he glanced at Brennan who shrugged. "Brennan is fine" she said.

Davo grinned "Alrighty then, Booth and Brennan it is! And the lovely Christine of course" he glanced over at her. She had been sitting playing with the soft toys, but had lay down and had drifted off to sleep. "Aww look at her. Isn't that the cutest thing?" Brennan started towards her "I'm sorry. I'll move her" But Davo waved her away "Don't bother. She's not breaking anything. Let her sleep. She's buggered, the poor little possum" Brennan processed his words and realised that he was saying to just leave Christine where she was. "Thanks, Davo. I appreciate it" she said, stumbling over his shortened nickname, and resisting the urge to call him David, which she assumed was his actual name.

"What say I chuck a few snags on the barby. I've got some dead 'orse and bread. Can't have you lot starving can we?" Davo walked into the room adjoining the office where they were. "Did he just say dead horse?" Brennan asked Booth, her eyes wide. "They eat horse?"

Booth shrugged, "I have no idea. Just pretend to eat it. Sort of push it around your plate. Then just say you're full. I'm not eating horse" he said firmly.

Davo came back with a tray full of sausages, a loaf of bread and a bottle of what looked like ketchup.

Booth nodded and said "So, sausages! Nice! And, um. Horse, you said? How long do you cook that for?" he asked. Davo stopped and stared at him for a minute before bellowing "HORSE? Oh! Ha Ha Ha! You think we're eating bloody horsemeat?" he was laughing so hard that he had tears running down his face. "I said dead 'orse love. This!" He picked up the bottle of tomato sauce and waved it at them "Tomato sauce mate. Sauce, dead 'orse? It's rhyming slang" he laughed.

Booth felt his face growing red and hot. He turned to Brennan and gritted his teeth. Brennan finally let go and started laughing along with Davo. "Sorry. We thought. When you said dead horse. We thought" Davo waved his hand in her face, "You thought we ate horse out here in the donga. I get it. Too bleedin' funny." he chuckled. "I can see I have a lot to teach you about Aussie slang while we're waiting for the cops"

* * *

Three hours later, they heard the crunch of tyres on the gravel outside. Booth stretched and yawned. He had been having a kip, which he learned was slang for a nap, after eating about eight snags on bread smothered with barbecued onions and a rather large slathering of _dead 'orse. _Brennan had been content reading a book about Australian culture, and listening to Davo tell stories and explain about his life, growing up in the bush.

"Looks like the coppers finally got their arses into gear and got here" Davo announced as he went to the door and stepped out onto the verandah.

"Stevo" he said as a rather portly police officer walked up to him, hand outstretched. "Sorry about the delay getting here mate, but Bazza's boys had a bit of a bash last night. Drank too much piss and they had the utes out and were doing donuts on the road outside his property. Lost control and wiped out about 8 metres of his fencing. We've had bloody sheep all over the highway." he said. Davo shook his head "what a bloody mess. Trying to catch all those jumbucks wouldn't have been easy. Bazza's gotta get a handle on those galah's one of these days"

Booth and Brennan were looking backwards and forwards between the two men, not understanding a word they were saying. Davo noticed their confused expressions and laughed. "One of the locals boys had a party. They were driving their utes, err trucks I think you call em, and they drove through the fence of Bazza's property. They've been trying to round up the sheep that escaped through the fence that they ran down. Those boys are a bloody nuisance round these parts." he added.

"They're a mob of bloody wankers" The officer exclaimed. "you wouldn't have a coldie would ya? Mouth's as dry as a witches tit" he added. Davo nodded, then turned to Booth and Brennan, indicating them with a wave of his hand "These are the witnesses who found the body. This is Booth and Brennan." he leaned in and whispered to the police officer_ talk slowly, they're yanks. lovely people, but can't understand a word we say _ then stood up and smiled widely "I'll get that beer".

"Right. Let's get a butchers hook at this body shall we?" The officer said walking off, beer in hand.

"That's a look" Davo whispered to Booth, who was completely lost after the conversation he had just heard.

Brennan hissed at Booth "He's drinking a beer on duty Booth!"

Booth, still flabbergasted by the casualness of the Australian police officers, just shrugged. "I guess this is what it's like in the outback. You wanted authentic Bones. I think we just got it!" he said. "Let's go." he said and followed the police and Davo out to the crime scene. Brennan grabbed Christine's hand and joined him.

* * *

Brennan stood watching the proceedings. They had pulled the body encased in the swag clear of the tree. They were doing a preliminary examination and she decided to approach one of the officers who was standing around. She proceeded to tell him who she was. About her job at the Jeffersonian and offer her services to them. If anyone could give them an insight into how this man died. It would be her.

"Look, Darl, I understand you think you're a smart sheila and I appreciate that you have all those degrees and whatever. But this is nothing to do with you. Except that your fella" Brennan interjected "He's my husband" The officer stared at her, then frowned "Your _husband_ will have to make a statement and then that's it. Really, that's all we need from you two." The officer was quite irritated by Brennan's insistence that she would be of great value to the forensic team that had been called in.

At one point she grabbed him by the arm and told him that he would probably regret turning down the assistance from the world's leading forensic anthropologist. He glanced down at her hand and then back up at her face. "Look love, I don't care if you're the world's greatest juggler. This is an Australian Federal matter. On Australian soil. _IN_ the Australian outback." He pointed at the ground while enunciating everything to her. "Now, perhaps you could be a good Mum and grab your kid and just go sit somewhere, out of the way." He said, no longer trying to _not_ be condescending.

Brennan flicked her hair and huffed, in a most unlike her manner, turned and grabbed Christine's hand and retreated over to a wooden bench and sat down rather heavily, hurting her own behind, but unwilling to admit it, as the officer was staring at her with a rather pretentious smirk on his face. She busied herself giving Christine a drink of water, trying to not look over at the annoying officer who was now listening to Booth give his statement. They seemed far more interested in the fact that he was an FBI agent than her own credentials, which annoyed her even further.

Twenty minutes later and Booth came and sat down with her, a rather large grin on his face "Exciting huh?" Booth tilted his head and squinted in the sun, one hand, shading his face. His hat was somewhere in the bottom of the bottle tree and would be returned to him shortly, after they had finished collecting forensic evidence from inside the tree, he had been assured. "You had a nice chat with them I see" Brennan said, slightly snippy. Booth stared at her then laughed. "Just because they were interested that I was FBI and wanted to know why I was here" Brennan pursed her lips "They weren't at all interested in who I was" she said sulkily. Booth laughed and wrapped his arm around her. "They don't know what they're missing" he said kissing her head.

"OK Bones. Let's go back to the hotel." She tried to resist his hand pulling her closer, but eventually relented and leaned into him "But Christine still hasn't seen the animals. She'll be disappointed." She said. He nodded. "I know, but this place is crawling with feds now. We have to go, we don't have a choice. They need to sweep the surrounding area. We'll take her to the local wildlife park in Townsville and she can pat koalas and feed kangaroos to her heart's content. OK?" Reluctantly Brennan acknowledged that he was right.

They collected Christine who was poking around in the dirt with a stick out of boredom and made their way back through the shopfront. "Daddy?" she asked as they were about to leave. "Yes pumpkin?" Booth replied. Christine had a stuffed koala in one hand and a kangaroo in the other. He couldn't resist the look on her face. Her day had been spoiled and he thought it only fair. "OK!" he said quickly. "Booth! Perhaps one?" Brennan objected. But Booth waved her away

"Come on Bones. Just this once." He stepped up to the counter to pay for the two toys and Davo handed him a new hat, identical to the one he had lost inside the tree. Booth tried to say no. "Take it. I'm sorry your day was spoiled. Mate, I still can't believe that there was a bloody stiff in that tree? Did they say how long it had been there?" Brennan jumped in quickly, excited to be able to help "Well from what I saw, the rate of deterioration of the flesh around the skull, perhaps two to three months. But of course that could be out by a few weeks due to the conditions inside the tree. It could have either slowed down, or possibly speeded up the decomposition rate. And of course they would have to examine the insects inside the trunk because they would have a bearing on the degeneration of the body also."

She looked up to see Davo staring at her, his mouth slightly open. "Roughly 3 months" she said, and left it at that. He nodded, appreciating the shorter version.

Booth shook his head, smiling and tried to hand the man his credit card again, but Davo waved him away. "I told you, it's on the house Booth. For your trouble today. I hope that you might come back again though. Finish your tour? There's still a lot you didn't get to see." he added. Booth stood, his credit card in his hand. He felt bad not paying for the toys and the new hat. "Really. I am not gonna charge you for those." Davo said again. Closing the till firmly. Booth shrugged and replaced his card in his wallet. "Thanks for this." He said picking up the new hat. He handed the toys to Christine who hugged them tightly. Brennan whispered to her. "Thank you Davo" the little girl chimed. Davo smiled at the little girl, nodding to Brennan "She's a bonza little thing" he said grinning. Brennan frowned and stared at the man, not having a clue what he meant. He saw that she was puzzled "I mean she's a little ripper. Err, a little bottler. She's a great little kid" he finally said. Brennan's eyes widened, her mouth forming an _O,_ then smiling widely at him "Thankyou so much Davo" she said holding out a hand. He stepped up and wrapped her in a bear hug, which shocked her. He let her go and turned to Booth and held out his hand "I hope to see you all again soon." he said clapping Booth on the shoulder as he pumped his hand up and down. He then stepped aside and held the door for them.

* * *

Booth stood outside the car. Brennan blocking his entry to the driver's seat. "No Booth. I told you. You cannot sit in that seat with those clothes on!" referring to the now dried and smelly stain on the back of his pants and shirt. "You're joking" He stood with his jaw pushed out trying to defy those blue eyes, but failing miserably. "fine." He unbuttoned the shirt and slid it off, leaving his singlet on, then, he undid the button and zipper and pushed his jeans down to his ankles. A passing tourist bus tooted repeatedly and he found himself staring at a bus full of tourists all waving enthusiastically at him in his boxers. He stared back at Brennan who was trying to cover her laughter with her hand.

"Happy now?" he mumbled as he hooked the toe of one shoe into the heel of the other and pulled his foot free of the shoe and the offending trousers. He bent down and picked up the shoes and the pants and went to throw them in the back of the car. "Wait. Firstly, you are not just throwing them in the back with all our luggage. Here." She held out a plastic bag she had grabbed from the shop. "and you cannot drive all that way in your socks or bare feet. Put your shoes back on." Booth stared at her, his mouth hanging open. So you want me to drive back into town in my boxers with my shoes and socks on?"

Brennan nodded. "Yes. But just knock the mud off of them first". He grumbled "Davo didn't seem to mind at all" Brennan crossed her arms, "Yes, but Davo lives in the bush and doesn't seem to mind the smell of animal faeces." He wanted to argue, but realised that after the day they had just been through, it would only add fuel to the fire, so he knocked the shoes on a rock to clear the mud off them, then pushed his feet back into them and struck a pose. "Happy?" he repeated sarcastically. "Completely" was her smug reply as she raised her phone and snapped another photo of him.

* * *

They drove the short distance back to the hotel in relative silence. Not wanting to talk about the discovery too much in front of Christine. They tried to keep their work out of their home as much as possible. She didn't need to be exposed to conversations about bones and rotting flesh, or injuries from knives, swords, bullets or clubs. Besides, they were on vacation. Once back at the hotel, Brennan went in and paid for and collected the key to their room while Booth sat in the car with Christine. He was not going to get out and be the centre of attention again in his underwear.

They entered their room and Booth flopped down onto the couch which faced the wide windows affording him an uninterrupted view of the beach. The sun was almost set and it was getting darker. "I'm gonna get up early and come and sit right here and watch the sunrise tomorrow morning. It should be spectacular Bones!" he said excitedly patting the couch. She sat beside him and leaned into his shoulder. "mmm, it'll be beautiful" she murmured.

Booth suddenly jumped up "I'm hungry. You hungry Christine? I think we should all get cleaned up and let's go for a walk and find somewhere to eat. After the day we've had, I think we deserve an outing with no surprises!" He poked his head through a couple of doors till he found the bathroom. "I'm first in!" he yelled and turned on the water. "Hey Bones? Can you get me some clean clothes?" he called.

Brennan stared at the door as he disappeared and she heard him singing in his off key way. She looked at his bag and shook her head. Pulling the bag behind her she entered the bedroom and lay it down, opening it and pulling out a pair of clean shorts, underwear and a shirt. She walked into the bathroom and hung them over the towel rail.

"Here you go Booth." she couldn't resist peeking through the shower door and whistling appreciatively at him. He turned suddenly, his hair full of shampoo, a loofa in his hand "Hey! No fair peeking!" he squealed like a girl, trying to cover himself with the loofa. Brennan burst out laughing

"Booth!". He reached out and tried to pull her in with him. "Oh no. I'm not joining you with Christine in the next room. You just finish up and then she and I will have our shower." He pouted and waved his loofa up and down luridly at her "You don't know what you're missing!" he exclaimed as she closed the door and returned to the living room.

_Oh I know alright. I definitely know_ she grinned to herself


	5. Chapter 5

Five and a half year old Christine was out on the decking outside their apartment. She had been told that she could come out here by herself, but not leave the garden or the apartment. She was a well behaved child, if not a little precocious. She had inherited the best and a little of the worst of both of her parents Seeley and Temperance. Her mother's intelligence, zeal for learning, curiosity about the world around her. From her father she had inherited his good looks, his charm, his enthusiasm, and his love of games and finding the fun. She had also inherited his raucous sense of humour, which at times frustrated her mother no end. Her ability to say the right thing at exactly the wrong time was however, all Temperance.

The sun had barely risen, and the sky was still streaked with pink and purple. Christine was sitting with her legs crossed watching a small bird flying around their private walled garden. She had never seen anything like it before. The brightest green, with a bluish purple head. Yellow and green stripes around it's neck like a collar, and a bright orange chest and blue belly. It had a short curved bright red beak and tiny black eyes that sparkled in the morning sunlight. It was flitting between the trees and shrubs. A deafening shrieking made Christine jump. Suddenly there was a cloud of green, blue and orange as a flock of Rainbow Lorikeets joined the one lone bird. They were screaming so loudly that Christine had to cover her ears.

They flew backwards and forwards between the trees, weighing down the branches as they landed and picked at the native flowers. Then as quickly as they landed they moved in a green cloud to the next tree. Christine sat, transfixed by the whirling cyclone of colour and noise.

* * *

A sliver of gold crept across the bed, settling across Booth's cheek. He blinked and rubbed at his eye, squinting through the golden veil at the room around him. _ another day in paradise, thank you Lord _ Booth rolled towards the centre of the bed, his face only inches from her ear. He stared at her sleeping form, smiling at her perfect profile. Her lashes gently laying on her cheek. Her lips slightly parted. He grinned wider as she began to snore. He picked up a strand of her hair and ever so gently slid it across her nose. Her snoring stuttered and face screwed up, one hand wiping across her face. Booth's lips were clamped together as he forced down the laugh that was building up in him. She relaxed and her mouth dropped open as she started snoring again.

Booth rolled over and grabbed his phone off the bedside cabinet. He scrolled through the screen, hit a button and held the phone up near her face. He sniggered as he recorded her _and she swears she never snores. I don't know why I haven't done this before?_ he thought to himself. He sat up and picked up a strand of hair and tickled her nose with it again. She snorted loudly, as her eyes flew open and stared at him. Unfocussed and bleary for a moment, then recognition of what he was holding, her eyes crystallised into two pieces of blue flint.

"What are you doing?" she croaked. She cleared her throat and said "Booth! Please stop that!" Booth burst out laughing. A rich deep, full throated laugh that usually made her lower belly clench. This time, Brennan was not as amused as he.

"You better erase that!" she demanded trying to grab the phone out of his hand. He held the phone up high so she couldn't reach it without sitting up, which she did. He swallowed as her naked form emerged from the pale blue sheets, her breasts full and high as she reached up for his phone. He let her take it from his hand and grabbed for her body. Caressing and kneading her. His lips, cool and dry covering hers.

He pushed her back down onto her pillow and covered her body with his, gently sliding his chest from side to side across her breasts. He could hear her breath, ragged in his ear. One hand sliding ever so slowly across her skin, his fingertips tingling as they traversed her neck, shoulder, breast, pausing to play gently with one nipple, then down her rib cage, to her hipbone, then slipping softly between her thighs.

"Booth" she gasped her voice raspy as she rolled her head back.

"Mommy?"

"Christine?"

"Booth!"

Booth and Brennan made a wild attempt at pulling the sheets across their naked bodies. Christine was standing in the doorway with her mother's camera in her hand.

"Why are you up so early Christine? Do you need something?" Brennan hurriedly asked her daughter, her breath ragged, her face bright red as she contemplated the thought that her daughter just witnessed her parents in the midst of foreplay.

Booth was laying on his stomach, hiding his obvious arousal, mortified at the notion that his daughter just saw his naked body lying on top of her mother. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her.

"Can I use your camera to take photos of the birdies outside in the garden?" Christine asked.

Brennan frowned, pulling her hair off of her face. "Um, yes, of course you can. Do you remember how to use it? " she asked her daughter.

Christine stood, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Yes. I take the cover of the thing on the front. I point the camera, and I look at the screen on the back and I push this big button on the top." she said, remembering her mother's instructions.

"That's right! Do you need anything else?" Brennan asked, hitching the sheet a little higher under her chin with one hand while pinching Booth with the other as he let his hand wander over her breast under the covers. She was waiting for the question.

"No. I don't think so." Christine responded and turned to leave. Then stopped and turned back "Daddy, did you know your bottom is really white?" then turned and left without waiting for an answer.

Brennan sat staring at the closed door for a moment then started to giggle. Booth rolled back onto his side and stared at her.

"She's right. Your bottom is really white!" she snorted. Booth blinked then the corner of his mouth started to twitch. "Have you looked at your boobs lately?" he asked her as he dropped his mouth to scoop one nipple into it. Brennan laughed so hard her belly hurt. "I can't believe she just walked in on us like that and all she had to say was your bottom was white!" Booth released her nipple from his lips and lifted his head grinning at her.

"Perhaps we should try sun baking naked?" he asked. Brennan pulled his face to hers smiling into his eyes "Not on your life Seeley Booth. That's never going to happen. I don't want anyone else looking at that white bottom of yours but me" she crooned into his mouth as she kissed him. Booth suddenly jumped up out of the bed "Hold that thought" he said as he ran over to the door and flicked the lock. "Just in case she needs to ask another question" he said as he jumped back into the bed and pulled her to him.

"What are we going to tell her when she asks questions?" Brennan suddenly asked pushing Booth back from her, a worried expression on her face. "She's five Booth! Five! And what if she tells someone!" her eyes wide. Booth stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. "If she was going to ask, don't you think she would have just done it?" he asked her. Brennan shook her head "I don't know"

"There's no point worrying about it now. She's excited about the birds she's seen. She'll be fine. She can't go anywhere other than the yard or the apartment. Let's just hope that she didn't really see anything. And if she asks, we'll lie." he suggested.

"Booth! You were laying on top of me naked!" Brennan wailed.

Booth grinned laviciously "I was, wasn't I?" and rolled back on top of her "I think we should continue with that" he whispered into her ear as he plundered it with the tip of his tongue.

Brennan lay stiff for a moment, still worrying about their daughter and what she might be thinking, but Booth's insistent tongue worked it's magic and she felt herself relaxing back into the mattress. He was right. They would deal with Christine when and if she mentioned anything.

The weight of his body, the warmth of his skin, his hands, his mouth, started drawing her back.

"and you're going to erase that video of me snoring" she murmured as she closed her eyes and let herself be taken away by him.


	6. Chapter 6

Booth had woken up and decided to shower and get dressed early. He wanted to go for a quick morning stroll along the beach before they left for their day out with Christine at the Wildlife Park. He came out of the bathroom as quietly as he could so he didn't disturb Christine or Bones. They, however had both gotten up while he was in the bathroom, woken by his rousing rendition of Hot Blooded whilst under the shower. Booth had this uncanny knack of not knowing how loudly he sang while showering. It generally found Christine with her hands over her ears while Brennan simply plugged her headphones into her laptop and blocked him out with music.

"Hey! When did you two get up?" he asked, surprised that they were sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Right at about the time you started rocking out, _Take me down to the very nice city, Where the cash is green and the guys are pretty" _Brennan said quoting his version of Paradise City, pulling her earbuds out of her ears and smirking at Booth, rubbing in the fact that he often sang the wrong lyrics without realising. Christine was rolling from side to side on the couch with two pillows still pressed to her ears crying out "when will it end!."

"Very funny Christine" he said as she pulled the pillows away and pointed at her ears and shaking her head, pretending to not be able to hear what he was saying. _Where the hell does she get this stuff? She's clearly watching too much television _ he thought to himself, forgetting that he had done the very same thing when Brennan tried to explain to him the history of something yesterday while he was trying to watch an AFL game on TV. He was really enjoying the Australian Football League games that were being replayed. Football was a winter sport in Australia, but replays were shown during summer on the sports channel.

Booth prided himself on his shower singing, despite being told numerous times by both his wife and his daughter that he was far from having the X Factor. "You two just don't appreciate the classics he huffed."

Brennan rolled her eyes and grimaced "Oh we do. That's the problem" she muttered, then turned and smiled sweetly at his offended expression.

Christine and Brennan looked at each other and laughed loudly as he exited the apartment and pulled the door shut behind him just a little louder than was necessary.

"Daddy's not a very good singer is he Mommy?" she stated, obviously. "Sadly, no" her mother responded smiling. "but we really shouldn't make fun of him so much." she said, trying to keep a straight face and be the good example of a parent. Her smile broke through though and she laughed out loud "He does sound like a dog howling sometimes, doesn't he? Come and help me make a special breakfast for Daddy for when he comes back. We should apologise for making fun of his singing I suppose" Brennan said, holding out her hand to Christine. The beauty of a self contained holiday apartment was the ability to prepare meals and be self sufficient. Christine skipped and opened the refrigerator, scanning the contents.

"Let's make a cheese omelette and bacon. And grilled tomatoes!" Christine announced. "I can mix the eggs!"she added proudly. Brennan smiled and tried to smooth her daughters hair, still mussed up from sleeping. "And after breakfast we really need to do something with this hair!" Brennan said, trying to pull Christine's hair off her face and tuck it behind her ears. "Can I have pigtails today?" Christine asked. Brennan smiled at her daughter "Of course" _if I can get the knots out of it first_ she thought to herself, knowing the fight she would be having with Christine while trying to force a brush through her daughters tangled hair.

Christine had hair exactly like Booths, thick and coarse, except for its colour which was quite light. When it was freshly washed and combed it sat in sweet light golden curls at the back and waved around the fringe. But Christine, being somewhat of a tomboy at times, hated it being down. She like it to be pulled back off her face and out of her way so she could run around, play ball with her father, or ride her bike with it tucked up under a helmet. Brennan gave up trying to tidy up the dark blonde tumble weed on her daughters head and busied herself with preparing breakfast.

* * *

Booth returned to find a hot, hearty breakfast apology waiting for him. He noticed Brennan fiddling on her phone. "What are you doing?" he asked as he shovelled omelette and toast into his mouth. Brennan glanced up. "I'm trying to find an app that will translate Australian slang for me. Honestly Booth, I have never felt so lost in conversations as I have lately." Booth laughed out loud "Oh Bones! Trust you to try to find an app for that!" he shook his head and went back to eating his breakfast as she scrolled through apps on the phone.

I can't believe there isn't one available!" she moaned. Booth shook his head "Bones, it's not a foreign language. They just shorten everything and use rhyming words to replace things. Like you're playing with your dog and bone" he said, pointing to her phone, proudly remembering that Davo had taught him that one. "And they shorten your name and add O or Y to the end of people's names. Like I would be Seelo or Seely. Wait, that's stupid, that's my name anyway!" he shook his head, "and you would be Tempy. Err, wait, that's what your Dad calls you! Maybe it would be Brenno" he mused thoughtfully. "Anyway, Christine would be Chrisso" he said, his forehead creased as he was trying to come up with Aussie versions of their names.

Brennan finally held up her phone triumphantly "I found one! _Aussie Slang Decoder _Thank goodness!" she said as she proceeded to download it. Booth stared at her then burst out laughing again, shaking his head. "Well if it makes you feel better" he said as he picked up their empty plates and proceeded to wash them in the sink.

"It does" Brennan said smugly as she sat and waited for her phone to update.

* * *

The sun was already high in the sky although it was only mid morning, the temperature rising quickly. They had parked their car and were walking towards the Koala and Wildlife park entrance. Christine was skipping ahead, then running back to them, so excited that she was going to finally see some kangaroos and sleepy bears as she called the Koalas. This was, quite understandable because every time she saw pictures of them they looked like they were sleeping.

They had been promising Christine that she would get to feed and pet a kangaroo since they got to Townsville. They had taken a few days to settle in to their holiday apartment. But today was a day for family fun. Brennan had loaded up a bag with picnic food, sunscreen, their akubra hats, the camera and was in fact, quite excited to be visiting the park herself!

Brennan was widely travelled, but it had occurred to her that she had never seen a kangaroo or koala up close either. Her worldly travels usually centred around a burial site, or a cemetery. She spent her time working, examining bones and bodies, ancient societies and rarely took any time out to see the local sights. She had missed out on a lot over the years she realised. She was looking forward to sharing these experiences with her daughter and Booth and making some wonderful family memories together.

Booth paid the entrance fee and they were greeted warmly by a young woman dressed in khaki shorts and shirt with the Park logo on the pocket. She had on long khaki socks and sturdy work boots on her feet. "G'day and welcome to our Koala & Wildlife Park. Just a couple of rules. We have packaged food for the animals to eat. They are specially produced dietary pellets. We ask that you don't try to feed them human food, even though they may try to approach you while you are eating. We hold the health of our animals at the forefront, so please, be mindful. You are quite welcome to go anywhere in the park apart from areas that have been clearly fenced and marked as No Entry areas." she pointed to an enlarged version of the map they had all been given. "Take lots of photos, have fun, and please make sure you come and hold and pet our koalas at the advertised times. We do advise that children under the age of ten are not permitted to hold the koala's by themselves, but they are welcome to pet them. Have a bonza day!"

Booth noticed Brennan frowning, "What's wrong honey?" he asked, concerned that she was upset about something. Brennan turned her blue eyes to him and said "She speaks perfectly understandable English! I wanted to use my decoder!" Booth clamped his lips together, his eyes sparkling as he tried to contain himself.

He grinned and turned to Christine "This is going to be fun!" he said before he broke down laughing at Bones, grabbing her by the hand and kissing it lightly, and they headed off to explore the park.

* * *

Lunchtime found them sitting at a timber picnic table shaded by a large canvas sail. It was very warm, but there was a gentle breeze that kept things comfortable. They had seen echidna's, and wombats that made Christine laugh as they burrowed into the dirt underneath the roots of the trees, with only their fat bottoms and stumpy back legs sticking out. There were all sorts of brightly coloured, squawking parrots flying freely around them.

Brennan had filmed Booth being chased by a rather tall Emu who seemed to be quite attracted to him. Plus the kangaroos and wallabies, which Christine had enjoyed feeding. Booth had shown her how to hold her hand flat with the food in the centre of her palm. She giggled as the kangaroo's came up and sucked the food off her hand with their floppy lips. They had funny little whiskers that tickled her hand. Brennan had taken numerous pictures of her and Booth feeding them. She hoped she had captured the sheer joy on their faces in the photographs.

She held the camera in front of her and stared at them, laughing together. Booth pulled Christine between his legs as he squatted and a small grey wallaby slowly approached them. It came right up to them and stood up on it's hind legs sniffing at Christine's hair as Booth stroked its head between its long, soft ears. Just at that moment Booth leaned down and pressed his lips to Christine's head. It looked as though both the wallaby and Booth were kissing Christine at the same time. Brennan lifted the camera and snapped. Her heart overflowing with love for them both.

They munched on ham and salad sandwiches, and ate oranges and pears. Brennan pulled out some bottled water and they sat contentedly as other families came and did the same. Suddenly Christine grabbed at her father's arm and whispered "Daddy LOOK!"

A strange bird was heading towards them, stopping and pecking at the ground every now and then looking for scraps and crumbs. It was an odd plain brown bird with large feet. What made Christine excited was the fact that it had stopped walking and suddenly a huge tail rose up into the air above it. Brennan grabbed her camera and snapped several quick shots of it.

She grabbed her wildlife compendium and quickly scanned through the native bird section. "That's a Lyrebird Booth! See Christine? It's tail looks like a lyre. Which is sort of like a harp. You know what a harp is right?" she proceeded to explain to Christine what a harp was, even though the little girl was far more interested in the bird than her mother's wildlife lesson.

Then the most amazing thing happened.

A kookaburra started laughing up in the tree above them. Almost instantly the lyrebird started mimicking it perfectly. Booth and Brennan both looked at each other. Then another bird started calling. And the lyrebird began to mimic that too. Booth couldn't quite believe his hears, when the bird started barking like a dog. Booth's head snapped around and he stared at Brennan "Did you hear that? That bird is barking like a dog!" Brennan's mouth was open, her eyes wide, and she raised her camera and started taking photo's, her camera shutter clicking as she took photos. Without missing a beat, the bird began to mimic the camera.

Booth threw his hands in the air "Now I've heard everything! Do you hear that Christine! That bird does impersonations!" Without hesitation Booth leaned forwards and whistled a simple set of notes and immediately was rewarded by his own whistle being repeated to him. He sat back and shook his head. "This is without doubt the most amazing thing I think I've ever seen" he said, as Christine tried to creep closer to the bird. It fluttered it's plain brown wings and dropped its tail, and turned it's head and stared at her for a moment, as if deciding whether to stay or run. It chose to run off into the bushes at the edge of the picnic ground.

"Did you get that Bones?" Booth asked, hoping Brennan had recorded it. She had. They watched the recording together on the phone and Booth laughed out loud "Man, nobody is going to believe that when we get home!" Brennan was smiling as she looked through the photo's she had taken of Booth and Christine. She looked up at them, and she felt an odd lump in her throat form. _Oh I am getting way too emotional today for some reason_ she shook her head and put the camera in her bag and started packing up their picnic while Booth and Christine were trying to find where the Lyrebird had gone.

* * *

They lined up for the Koala petting session. Booth was jigging from foot to foot. He was probably more excited than Christine who was giggling uncontrollably, and alternately hugging her father's leg, then performing some kind of self choreographed contemporary dance, which amused the other people in the line.

Brennan pulled out the camera and recorded their daughter for a few minutes. _All these wonderful moments_ she thought, smiling. She turned the camera onto Booth who grinned right into the lens. "This is Seeley Booth, reporting to you from Down Under. We're about to go meet Australia's famous _sleeping bear_." he said, pretending to be a reporter and using Christine's name for the Koala, making Brennan chuckle.

They eventually were led into a small arena and a handler gave a talk where they learned that the Koala Bear was not in fact a bear at all, but a warm blooded mammal, who gives birth to a tiny baby, called a joey, which is still considered a foetus. They are blind, hairless, less than one inch long and weighs about 1 gram, so, roughly about the size of a bee. They crawl up the female koala's belly into its mothers pouch completely unaided, relying on its sense of smell, strong forelimbs and claws. Once inside the pouch, baby koala attaches itself to one of the two teats and stays there drinking milk for the next six months.

Booth and Brennan were fascinated by this information, whereas Christine, along with most of the other younger children there, was bored, and proceeded to lie on the ground and roll around with her legs in the air yelling "I want to pat the sleeping bear!" over and over. Booth leaned down and scooped her up, gently covering her mouth with his hand, grinning self consciously around, hoping that nobody was watching him muffle his daughter. They knew that once Christine started, she would simply get louder and louder.

Thankfully, the information session ended and they were ushered to a fenced in area with several petting stations set up. They were first in line, thankfully and Christine's boredom was silenced by a man carrying out a large grey furry ball.

"G'day!" he smiled at them. He indicated to Booth to take a seat and proceeded to settle the furball on his lap. "Don't hold him too tight, just support him here" he indicated where Booth should hold him. "So young lady. Is this your first time seeing a Koala?" he asked Christine who clapped "Yes! Can I pat her?" she asked excitedly. The handler smiled "Of course! But she is a he. His name is Kevin. He's about four years old." Kevin opened his eyes at the mention of his name and blinked his tiny coal black eyes several times.

He gave them a quick talk about Kevin, how he came to be in the park as a tiny joey of about two months old after his mother had been killed by a car while trying to cross a road. Thankfully someone had found Kevin and brought him into the park to be cared for. He pointed out Kevin's long, sharp claws, which helped him climb the smooth trunks of the Eucalyptus trees, but could be quite dangerous to humans if they weren't very careful. He showed Christine a long scar down his arm that had been caused by an angry Koala.

Christine was allowed to tickle Kevin's ears, which he clearly loved. And she also got to feed him some Eucalyptus leaves. They learned that Koala's ate eucalyptus leaves and bark from 12 different types of eucalyptus trees. Koalas seldom drank water, instead they got it from the eucalyptus leaves, which are 50% water. Although, they do drink water from watering holes or puddles on the ground, if due to drought, the leaves water content is too low. Each koala eats somewhere between 6 and 15 ounces of leaves per day. So making sure that the Eucalypt tree doesn't become extinct is a priority in Australia. They also learned that the average Koala sleeps for approximately 16 hours every day to conserve energy.

And of course this was about the time that Kevin dropped off to sleep in Booths arms.

Brennan took several photos of Booth & Christine with the koala, then stroked Kevin's soft ears and smiled at Christine, making sure she didn't get too close to those long claws, or scare him awake. The handler took her camera and took a few photos of the three of them together. Brennan thanked him. She had so many photo's of Booth and Christine, but not so many of her. She seemed to be the one taking all the photo's. Or so she thought. Booth had been snapping away with his phone every chance he got. He wanted to surprise her with all the wonderful photo's he had taken of her and their daughter together while they had been here in Australia.

The handler gently lifted Kevin from Booths lap and grinned. "Well, thank you for coming. We hope you've enjoyed your visit with Kevin." They thanked him and took Christine by the hands, swinging her between them as they walked back to the park souvenir shop. Christine skipped back to the car holding a large fluffy koala whom she had named Kevin, of course.

"You do realise we are going to have to buy another suitcase just to carry all the fluffy toys she is accumulating" Brennan rolled her eyes at Booth who had insisted on buying the largest toy koala in the shop. He shrugged and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Either that, or I'll buy Kevin a seat on the plane for the trip home" he quipped.


	7. Chapter 7

Booth pulled onto the highway and settled into the flow of traffic. They had been driving for about fifteen minutes when Booths phone rang.

"Grab that for me hon" he said as he changed lanes. He had gotten used to driving on the wrong side of the road, although little things like the indicator being on the opposite side and pulling out into traffic still confused him occasionally

Brennan picked up his phone from the console and answered the call. "Hello, Doctor Temperance Brennan speaking. You have called the phone of Seeley Booth."

Booth glanced over at her, one eyebrow raised, his mouth kicked up on one side.

"M-hmm. Yes. Well he's driving right now." she said. "Actually no. I can't do that. According to Australian driving laws, it is illegal for him to be in control of a vehicle and use a mobile phone".

Booth's smirk deepened into a grin.

"Well I'm sorry. But I want some sort of guarantee that if I was to hand this phone over to him, and he gets pulled over by the police that he will not be prosecuted. You can send me an email. I can access it from my phone if that scenario was to eventuate." she said, looking at Booth and pointing to the phone, shaking her head.

Booth burst out laughing.

"I beg your pardon? Well, sir, if you don't mind, I'm going to hang up now. I shall have Special Agent Booth call you once we have reached our destination." she snapped.

At that moment Booth pulled out of the traffic and stopped the car, reaching for his phone "Bones, just give me the phone."

"Booth" he said.

He listened to the voice on the other end of the line, his face blanching as information was being relayed to him.

"You're sure?" he asked. An unseen bearer of what was clearly not good news, on the other end of the line making Booth frown deeply. His forehead creasing and his eyes becoming dark as he listened. He felt the muscles in his face tighten and a tic start to pull at his left cheek. "OK. I'll be there. I'm probably about thirty minutes away, I think. I have to drop my family back at the hotel. Yep. OK. Thanks"

Booth held out the phone to Brennan without speaking, checked the rear view mirror for any traffic, then pulled back onto the road and continued driving.

Brennan sat holding the phone staring at him. _something was not right _"Booth?" she asked, hesitantly. "What did they want?

Booth flicked her a quick glance, then back at Christine who had nodded off to sleep in her booster seat.

"They found some ID at the billabong. They need me to come in and talk to them." he said quietly.

"Why? I thought that you gave them all the information they needed at the billabong?" she asked.

Booth's lips were pressed together, the tic in his cheek beating a rapid staccato.

He glanced around, then dropped his voice "they found a wallet in the bushland near the billabong. He's FBI Bones." he stared at her for a few seconds then turned his attention back to the road in front of him.

Brennan sat quietly, watching him. Lips clamped tightly together, his jaw tight, a muscle in his cheek was twitching. She resisted the urge to reach out and gently lay a finger on it to quieten it. His eyes almost black, suddenly appearing sunken in his face. His brow furrowed, as he frowned in concentration. His hands were clenched around the steering wheel, knuckles white. Every so often he would flex one hand.

Brennan looked down at her hands, and entwined her fingers together to keep from reaching for him. She wanted to touch him badly. Let him know she was there. But now was not the time. She had known him long enough to know. He needed to be left to his thoughts. He was processing the information he had just been given. She licked her lips and considered her words.

"Would you like to go straight to the police station. I can drive Christine and myself to our apartment. You can call when you are free to come home" she stared at her hands and waited.

She could hear him breathing, suddenly he took a deep breath and exhaled through his mouth in a sigh "Fine. Yep. Thanks. At least you two can go and have some fun." he glanced at her "I don't want you sitting in that apartment waiting. And I don't want you coming down to see what's going on either." he said firmly pointing at her. "You need to do something with Christine."

Brennan, nodded, still looking down at her hands. She was trying to push down the feelings of disappointment that were welling up in her. Their first real holiday together. And this had to happen half way into it. She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

"Bones." Booth's voice softened slightly. He knew what she was thinking. "It's gonna be OK you know? This is just procedure. I'm FBI, I was at the scene. They want to see if I can identify him. That's all. I'm gonna go there, ID the body if I can and I'm coming right back. I'm on vacation. _We're_ on vacation. Nothing is going to interfere with that. I promise. Deal?" he said holding out a fist.

Brennan looked at him. His eyes telling her that he was confident. That he was being honest about his feelings. He wanted to be with her and Christine. "OK. Deal" she responded bumping his fist with hers. She smiled. She loved it when he did these silly little pop culture things.

"Ok then!" his mood lifting.

* * *

Booth stood with the Australian Federal Police who were assigned to this case. One hand on his hip, two fingers hooked inside his belt, the other rubbing his forehead. _God dammit its hot here_ he thought to himself, reaching into his pocket for a handkerchief. He mopped at his face and shoved the now sodden piece of fabric back down into his pocket. He had confirmed that the body was that of a young FBI agent. He didn't know him personally, but he'd seen some reports. Met him briefly at a conference. Read a few things that had been posted in the internal bulletins that they received at work.

"So you're telling me that he was here on vacation and got murdered in the outback and was dumped in a tree and nobody even knew he was here?" Booth asked Superintendant Marshall, who was coordinating the investigation. The man nodded curtly. He glanced up from his clipboard and looked at Booth. His face was red and perspiration was trickling down the sides of his face, but he didn't seem to notice.

"We've crosschecked with his supervisors in the FBI. His mother wasn't even aware he had left the country. We've telephoned several of his co-workers, his neighbours, and his sister. None of them had a clue. His boyfriend is flying in to meet with us and ID the body. He's the one we want to have a chat with. Smarmy little upstart." he rolled his eyes and looked back down at his clipboard.

Booth stared at him for a moment and nodded. "You suspect something with the boyfriend, don't you?" he asked straight out. Superintendant Marshall smiled slightly without looking up at Booth.

Booth smiled. He recognised what type of man Marshall was. Hard nosed. Long serving. Good instincts. _kinda like me!_ He grabbed his handkerchief out of his pocked and mopped his forehead again "How the hell do you do it?" he asked. Marshall looked up at him, questioningly "Do what?" he asked. "This!" Booth waved his hand around vaguely. "This heat!" Marshall grinned and clapped him on the shoulder "Come on. The morgue is definitely cooler. Let's have a look at this bloke shall we?" and walked off.

Booth followed him, pulling at his t-shirt that was clinging to his body. He walked through the office and as he walked past the main desk he heard a faint whistle of appreciation at his apparent wet t-shirt look. He glanced back and a woman of around forty was grinning at him. She winked and Booth quickly turned back and followed the officer now acutely aware that his t-shirt was clinging to him in all the right places. He pulled at it again, trying to stretch it out of shape so that it hung more loosely on him, unsuccessfully.

* * *

The morgue was well lit, but as always, appeared to have a slight greenish tinge _I wonder why they are always this colour?_ he thought to himself.

Superintendant Marshall was already standing with the sheet pulled back from the body, which had now been removed from the swag. The smell of death and decay washed over Booth as he approached. It seemed worse than anything he'd smelt before. He felt his stomach lurch and his his spin slightly as he stepped up next to Marshall.

"Monty Alwin, Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI" Marshall made a very short introduction. Booth nodded at the coroner.

"yeah mate. It's the heat. He's kinda been cooked. Like a human sausage roll!" he chuckled to himself. The coroner smiling and nodding. Booth looked at them both "A what?" he asked, covering his mouth with his hand.

"A sausage roll. Oh right. Yank. It's minced meat and herbs wrapped in pastry and baked in the oven. Delicious! You should try them" Marshall said.

"Yeah, I don't think so now" Booth said, horrified that they were talking about food with that stench wafting around them.

The coroner looked at Superintendant Marshall who nodded and he began his findings report.

"We're looking at a male. Approximately twenty four to twenty six years old. He appears to have been in relatively good health. There are signs of old scars, possibly from wounds associated with childhood injuries. The body has reached the active decay stage. My initial thoughts were that he has been deceased about two weeks, but I'm now thinking its more like six or seven days. The heat generated by that swag, created a false environment. His face is far less decomposed than the rest of his body which was encased. See the marbling in his face is quite different to the blackened tissue of his lower body." he turned and smiled at Marshall who was frowning at him.

Monty grinned at Booth "It's fascinating!" Booth rolled his eyes "You and my wife would have a great time here." he quipped. The coroner tilted his head "Really? May I ask? Your wife is interested in forensics?"

Booth burst out laughing "You could say that. She's Doctor Temperance Brennan. She"

Monty dropped the arm he was holding and stepped towards Booth interrupting him, his gloved hands outstretched, a gelatinous glob of something hanging from the index finger of his right hand.

Booth took a large step backwards and hand up both hand defensively "Don't come any closer with that. That. Stuff" he pointed at the man's glove. The coroner stopped "Your wife is Temperance Brennan? The Forensic Anthropologist who works for the Jeffersonian. The author? Is she here?" his voice had pitched and he was looking past Booth to see if his idol was waiting in the shadows.

Booth shook his head "Hold on there buddy. Um, Yes, Yes, Yes and No. I think that answers all your questions. She is back at our hotel with our daughter."

"Oh please. She must come in to see this. She would be so much help to me. Do you think she would agree to come in and consult?" Monty asked hopefully.

Booth sighed "We're actually on vacation. We didn't come here expecting to be caught up in some international crime scene." he said. He looked at the crestfallen look on the coroners face. He sighed _I'm so gonna regret this _

"Look, I'll ask her. But." he pointed his finger at the man "You can have her for twenty four hours _only_. We're leaving to drive down to Sydney in two days time. I haven't come all this way to have my first real family vacation go down the toilet" he said firmly.

Superintendant Marshall shrugged and the coroner nodded "Agreed. She would only be acting in a consultancy role, and anything she can help me with during that twenty four hours will be a great help"

Booth pointed at the body "You know she's a bones person, right?"

Monty nodded eagerly "I'll have the body stripped and ready by the time she comes. This is going to be so exciting! Like the best birthday present ever!" he said.

Booth's face screwed up on one side, looking at the coroner who ran back to the bench and started doing whatever it was he needed to do. Booth looked away as he lifted an arm and the flesh peeled away from it rather like a banana peel and shuddered.

"Not your thing either mate?" Marshall asked him. Booth shook his head "I've been doing this longer than I care to remember, and I still can't get used to that smell." he said. Marshall nodded "Me either"

* * *

They walked upstairs and found a table to sit at in a back office.

"So we've established his identity. Which is definitely a big plus. We now have to wait for the boyfriend to arrive. He should be here in two to three days. Has to arrange leave from work or something he says. I say he's stalling. I've got someone watching him in the meantime" Marshall said. He showed Booth some photographs taken of the area where the wallet was found. He pushed a plastic envelope towards Booth with a set of finger prints in it. Booth looked at them then up at Marshall "the victims?" he asked. Marshall grinned and shook his head "Nope. We're running them at the moment. They were lifted from the inside of the wallet. And there was another set on the metal tag of the zipper. We're not dealing with a professional I'd say. Basic, stupid errors. We had to send them to Brissy to be processed"

"Brissy?" Booth echoed. Marshall corrected himself "Brisbane. Sorry. Keep forgetting you're not from here. We should have the results in two days. And if my instincts are right. And they usually are" he grinned at Booth "I think that our young friend that is flying in from the States might just happen to match our evidence." Booth nodded, impressed. "Crime of passion?" Booth asked.

"Not sure yet. We've tracked down the hotel where he was staying. He wasn't alone." one eyebrow popped up as Marshall looked at Booth. "Our victim has been a naughty boy I think" he said. Booth grinned. He liked this man, a lot. He reminded him of Caroline in a strange way.

Booth stood up after they had finished discussing the case. Stretched and pulled at his t-shirt again. "You'll get used to it" Marshall said, referring to the heat. Booth shook his head "I don't think so." He held out a hand to the Superintendant. "I guess I'll see you before we leave for Sydney? I'd like to know what you find out from the boyfriend if that's possible. I'll bring Bones by tomorrow to have a look at the body." he said.

"Bones?" Marshall asked. Booth grinned "Sorry, that's what I call her. Doctor Brennan. We'll be here around ten?" Marshall nodded. "I'll let Monty know" he said.

* * *

Booth walked back through the office where the receptionist was eagerly watching him. He turned his back on her and dialled Bones' number. "Hi babe. Can you please come and get me?" he glanced over his shoulder and was greeted with another wink. "And hurry please? I'm about to be eaten alive." he hung up the phone and turned around and gave a tight smile to the receptionist.

He took a deep breath and stepped outside into the heat. It was preferable to being in the company of the man eater in the office. He found a tree and squatted down under it to wait.


	8. Chapter 8

Brennan arrived to pick Booth up from the morgue three hours after she had dropped him off. He was sitting under a tree with a woman in her mid to late forties hovering over him. Brennan noticed that Booth had an odd look on his face, and his body language indicated he was extremely uncomfortable. Brennan stopped the car, left the engine running and hopped out of the car. She approached Booth, who jumped up as quickly as he could. He literally ran towards her and grabbed her so tightly her breath was forced from her lungs. He, rather loudly announced "Temperance, Darling! I've missed you so much. Kiss me!" dipped her, and proceeded to plunder her mouth with his, while muttering _play along, for gods sake Bones, play along! _Not fully understanding what was going on, but happy to comply. She wrapped her arms around him and proceeded to thoroughly enjoy his kiss and caress. A loud high pitched voice broke their rather vigorous kissg "Mommy! Daddy! Ewwww! Can you PLEASE get a room!"

They pulled apart and stared at each other and said "Christine!", then burst out laughing . He turned to the woman who was standing with her hands on her hips mumbling something about Brennan sharing. He called out "I told you I was married to the most beautiful woman on the planet!" then grabbed Brennan and propelled her towards the car. "Oh my god she was trying to get me to go have a drink with her and then go back to her place for a bit of slap and tickle" he hissed. Brennan stopped walking for a minute frowning. "Slap and what?" she asked confused.

"Sex. Sex, Bones. She wanted me to have sex with her" he said exasperated.

Brennan turned and glared at the woman. "Don't worry about it Bones. Come" Brennan broke free of his grasp cutting off his sentence, and started stomping towards the woman who was still standing watching them. "Did you really think he would go home and have sexual relations with you when he has me in his bed every night? I am way more beautiful and might I say, younger than you. AND I am a world famous forensic anthropologist, AND" Booth grabbed her by the arm "That's enough Bones. She gets the idea." he said pulling her back towards the car.

"I've always been game for a threesome!" came the call from behind them. Brennan's step faltered, but Booth pulled her along, determined to get out of there as quickly as they could. Christine was sitting in her seat in the back seat with her gameboy, ignoring the situation her parents had found themselves in.

* * *

Booth and Brennan sat side by side at the dining table, a takeaway Vietnamese dinner spread out in front of them. Christine was happily sitting in front of the TV with an assortment of colouring books, felt pens and crayons, a half eaten bowl of fried rice beside her.

Booth bit into a cold roll and chewed it hurriedly. He had news about the body from the billabong. "It's Christopher Belton, Bones. He's an up and coming golden boy in the service back in Washington. I had a bit of a run in with him back when I was with" he hesitated, knowing he was going into delicate territory.

"When you were with Hannah. It's OK to say her name Booth. It's been years. I don't know why you are always so touchy." Brennan said. Hannah was always going to be a sensitive subject for him. She left a bad taste in his mouth and he never really forgave her for making such a fool of him. Booth shrugged it off. "Anyway, he's got a bit of a reputation in the force, and has been known to go in all guns blazing. He's careless. And he can be very abrasive and pushy, but they love him." he said. "You mean they used to" she replied shortly.

Her tone was not lost on Booth. "What's wrong Bones? Your nose a little out of place?" he said, tapping her on the tip of her perfectly formed nose. Brennan pushed his hand away and stared at the television and muttered "I don't know what you mean".

He grinned "Right. Well, they had a bunch of questions about him. I was able to fill them in on who he was, you know, give them some background. They appreciated it and asked if you would be available to help them." Brennan crossed her arms across her chest "and I suppose you jumped and said you'd love to ?" she said somewhat snarkily, not really hearing what he had said. Booth smiled down at his food, then picked up another cold roll and bit into it, calmly chewing.

"Wait." Something sparked in her mind "What did you just say?" she asked him, realising that he was talking about her and not himself.

He pushed the remaining half of cold roll into his mouth and slowly chewed it. Her impatient jigging making him want to prolong his chewing. He picked up his beer and took a long, slow draught. He swilled it around his mouth and then swallowed, smacking his lips together. He picked up a napkin and carefully wiped his mouth. "What? I'm sorry, I missed what you said." he said, barely containing the smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

Brennan huffed "What did you just say about helping them?" Booth looked up at the ceiling, his mouth opening in an O. "Oh that. It was nothing. They asked me to give them some background information, and help them with some contacts in Washington, then they asked if you might be able to help them. That's it. Nothing special" he teased.

"Actually I declined." He added nonchalantly. Taking a cold roll from her plate and holding it up to bite into it. Brennan grabbed it out of his hand and threw it down onto the plate. Booth's eyes popped open.

"What? No! You didn't?" she grabbed his arm and pulled him around to look at her "Please tell me you didn't?" she asked him.

Booth smiled and winked.

"Did you just wink at me? Why did you wink at me? Are you making fun of me?" she snapped. He laughed and wrapped an arm around her. "Oh come on Bones. I know that you were itching to get a good look at that body. Of course I didn't decline." he asked her pulling her harder against him. "But" he added "I did specify that they could only have you for a day. Twenty four hours."

Brennan opened her mouth to protest, but Booth held up a hand. "No Bones. We're on vacation. Our first in years. Now, I know that you love your work. But we are not. I repeat, not going to ruin Christine's holiday. So they get you for 24 hours." he stared at Brennan, his face serious.

She wanted to protest, but looked over at her daughter who was colouring in a drawing of them at the Billabong. She realised that Booth was completely right. They were on vacation. As a family. And if the local forensic team had done their job right and processed the remains accordingly, she should be able to give them some useful information within the time frame Booth had given them.

"Of course. I agree." she nodded at him.

* * *

Brennan stepped into the morgue and inhaled deeply. She let out a breathe and smiled. Booth watched her face. She got a certain look about her when she was in the presence of the dead. It was like she was on a mission that only she could complete. That she was going to solve their mysteries. His head tilted and he smiled as she was greeted by Monty, the resident coroner.

Monty had kind of turned to mush when Brennan walked in the door. He was one step short of grovelling on the ground at her feet like a dog. Brennan inclined her head and gave him her professional smile.

"Doctor Brennan, we are so honoured to have you here. I'm Doctor Monty Brython." Booth's head snapped up at the mention of the man's last name _Monty Brython? Oh you gotta be kidding me!_ he thought, grinning at the his name that was so similar to one of Booth's favourite comedy shows, Monty Python. He let out a poorly muffled snigger. Brennan turned and glared at him, then turned back to the coroner. Monty bowed and continued speaking "I can't tell you how excited I am to finally meet you. I've read all your books. And your medical journals. I've got them all. I have a collection you see. Mostly I collect you, although I have been known to" Brennan stepped past him, and looked at the bones on the slab in the middle of the room.

"Yes, that's nice. But I'm here for twenty four hours only, Doctor Brython." she said formally. "Please, call me Monty" he said, bowing. Booth rolled his eyes. "Thankyou, Doctor Brython will do fine." Brennan started picking up pieces of bone and inspecting them. "Can we get a stronger light source in here?" she asked.

Monty bowed again "Of course Doctor Brennan. Anything else?" he asked.

"Yes, actually. Can I get a strong cup of black tea, and please stop bowing, you look ridiculous." she said, turning back and picking up the skull. She glanced up and saw Booth grinning at her. She felt herself blush for some reason. She remembered him looking at her like that early this morning just before he plundered her breasts with his mouth and made love to her vigorously in the shower.

He walked up to her and pressed his lips to her cheek. "I'll be back later tonight, OK?" he said. She smiled and nodded. "That will be perfect, thank you." She pressed her lips to his. "Have a nice day with Christine" she added. He grinned, "We will"

* * *

He left the morgue and collected Christine from the office where she was waiting. Thankfully, the cougar was not on duty, so he didn't have to deal with that again.

Christine skipped alongside her father holding his hand "Where are we going today daddy?" she asked. Booth bent down and placed his hands under her armpits and lifted her up to hold her. He kissed her forehead "We're going to a giant aquarium. They have lots of amazing tropical fish and sharks and eels" Christine wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed. He adored that sound. It was like raindrops on a glass roof, tinkling. He felt her arms tighten around his neck and her rosy pink lips press to his face. "I love you Daddy" she said simply.

"Oh I love you too baby" he replied smiling. "Let's go see some fish!"

* * *

Christine stood with her hands pressed against the cold glass. Her head turning this way and that as the different fish swam past her, seemingly only inches away. Booth stood behind her, his hands pressed against the glass in an identical manner. His mouth was hanging slightly open, his eyes darting left and right. Every now and then he would look down and ruffle his daughters hair. She would look up at him and grin her gappy toothed smile. Christine had lost two teeth while on their vacation.

She had some concerns that the tooth fairy wouldn't be able to find her because she wasn't sleeping in her own bed. But Booth had assured her that the tooth fairy could fly at incredibly fast speeds and not even get tired. So she would find Christine's tooth just fine. Of course allowing for the exchange rate, her tooth in Australia was worth a whopping five dollars! To which Brennan had frowned and had words with him about spoiling her. Booth had done what he usually did. Kiss her deeply and tickle her neck to distract her.

They were entranced by the bright array of tropical fish before them. The seemed to look straight at them and swim so close to the glass you felt as though you could pluck them from the water. Delicate Angel Fish, and bright yellow Butterfly Fish. Christine laughed and clapped as the Clown Fish darted in and out of the plants. "Look Daddy! Nemo!" she exclaimed. Booth smiled down at her. Finding Nemo was one of their favourite movies.

Booth suddenly reached down and grasped Christine's shoulder "Look baby! A shark!" They stared in wonder as the great white shark sailed smoothly past them, her black eye staring at them as she passed. Booth felt a shiver down his spine. He was particularly creeped out by fish eyes. Something that Brennan loved to tease him about. Once, when they went to a Korean restaurant, she ordered the special of the day which was a broth with noodles and fish eyes floating in it. Needless to say, Booth had made a hasty dash to the men's room, leaving Brennan laughing hysterically at him as she popped one fish eye after another into her mouth, pressing them against the roof of her mouth with her tongue, popping them and feeling the salty water spurt into her mouth.

Booth and Christine wandered hand in hand around the aquarium, stopping at the petting pool, where Christine got to touch seasnails, and star fish and tiny molluscs. They sat in the stands and watched the dolphins perform. Leaping high into the air above their handler and then standing upright in the water and skimming backwards through the water while flapping their fins. They made a strange high pitched giggling noise which made Christine and Booth laugh. They stopped and ate dinner at a small cafe. Technically, it was dessert, but what Brennan didn't know, couldn't hurt her. Or them. She thought that both Booth and Christine ate way too much icecream and cake. But his theory was that there was no such thing as too much icecream.

They finally arrived home around six thirty pm. Booth carried Christine into her room and lay her on the bed. She was so tired she barely opened her eyes as he undressed her, leaving her in her underwear. He pulled the sheet over her and kissed her hair. "Love you baby. Sweet dreams"

He dropped heavily onto the couch and looked at his watch. Brennan had messaged him and said that she would be catching a lift with Monty later tonight. Things were going well and she had found some interesting information about the victim. He switched on the TV and leaned back into the couch. He pushed off his shoes using the toe of each foot, and lay sideways along the couch. Pulling a couple of cushions and plumping them under his head. He found a movie and decided to just watch that while he was waiting.

Booth saw exactly three minutes and twelve seconds of the opening credits before nodding off to sleep.

* * *

A soft pressing on his mouth, made him flutter his eye lashes. A sweet perfume wafted past his nostrils. Another soft kiss upon his closed eye. Then another on his cheek, the corner of his mouth, his jaw. He opened his eyes and looked into the eyes of the one person who could make his heart alternate between stopping, and beating so loud and fast he could hear it in his ears.

"Bones" he croaked. He cleared his throat "Bones, you're back. What time is it?" he said his eyes squinting at the brightness of the light in the room.

"It's three in the morning. Come on, I'm tired. Let's go to bed." she whispered as she helped him sit up. He smiled wearily at her. Her eyes had dark bruises under them, her hair was pulled back off her face in a lopsided untidy ponytail. She looks exhausted he thought as he turned off the TV. He stood with her help and they walked slowly to their room arms entwined around each other.

"Did you and Christine have dinner?" she asked

"Yes" he replied quickly, hoping she didn't ask what they had eaten. She didn't.

"I have so much to tell you" she said leaning into him.

"_in the morning_" they echoed together, laughing softly and closing the bedroom door behind them.


	9. Chapter 9

Brennan's day in the morgue had, in fact, uncovered something that nobody had been expecting.

"So Doctor Brython?" she frowned "I was sure Booth originally told me your name was Alwin?" she asked. Monty blushed. Well it is actually Monty Alwin Brython. I tend to drop the Brython because, you know. Brython, rhymes with Python?" he said blushing. Brennan frowned "I don't know what that means. Doctory Brython can you tell me about the condition the body was in?" Brennan asked as she walked around the stainless steel table holding the skeletal remains of the victim. Monty stood staring at her for a moment, then shrugged thinking _she must be the first person in the entire world who didn't get the Monty Python thing._

"Of course Doctor Brennan. He was in an advanced stage of decay, although his head and face were not as advanced. I ascertained that the conditions inside the swag contributed to the heightened decay rate. There was a large amount of insect activity in the upper regions of the body and face." Monty started rattling off his findings. She paused her inspection of the remains to look at Monty. "Exactly what are your qualifications?" she asked him pointedly.

Monty felt his colour rising. "Um, well, I'm the mortician here in Townsville. I also am the acting coroner. I was doing my Fellowship in Forensic Pathology" Brennan interrupted him. "But that will take you forever working here. You can't possibly be doing the number of autopsies required to complete that. You should be working in a large hospital in one of the cities." she said.

Monty looked down at his shoes and shuffled. "I know. But as I said I _was_ doing my fellowship. I failed. I needed to get a job and this is the job I managed to get. And I like it. And I understand what you're saying." he shrugged. "But I do a lot of reading and I particularly focus on your work Doctor Brennan" Brennan frowned at him and shook her head "Reading my work, no matter how brilliant it is, probably isn't going to be enough to help you finish your certification" she said. Monty stared at her "I know. But I'm happy here. I enjoy the job, the work. I don't really know if I have what it takes to be a forensic pathologist. I mean, I have enough knowledge to make fairly educated conclusions."

"Not really" Brennan said, shaking her head, then noticed the look on the man's face. Booth had explained that sometimes, she made people feel ashamed or embarrassed. "But I'm sure you have done as much as your limited knowledge allows. And that's good." she added, feeling quite pleased that she recognised the man's feelings. "So you're a physician then?" she asked as she turned her attention back to the skeleton "Surely you could have gotten a job at the local hospital?"

Monty shook his head, placing the photos back in the folder "Nah. I don't really like sick people that much." Brennan nodded "Agreed" she said shortly.

Brennan stopped and pointed at the skeleton "This can't be the right victim" she said shortly.

Monty shook his head "I assure you Doctor Brennan. This is the same victim that was removed from the tree at the billabong."

Brennan shook her head "That's impossible. You told me that the victim was male. This skeleton is clearly female. Look at the the pelvic bones, they are shorter and more rounded than a male, and the surrounding bones, the tailbone, and hip bones, are designed to be more flexible to accommodate gestation and child delivery. In a female skeleton, the space between the two major pelvic bones must be able to accommodate a baby's head and shoulders during childbirth." she said, pointing to each bone as she spoke. "This is most definitely a female" she said looking squarely at Monty, her eyebrows raised, eyes wide. "Also the size of the bones in the hands and feet are particularly small for a man. Even a man of this height would have significantly thicker and longer bones in the forearms, legs and fingers." she added picking up an arm and examining the ends. "And see here, the corners are much less pronounced. This is definitely a woman."

Monty stood staring at her for a moment. He turned and grabbed the file stammering "To be honest Doctor Brennan, I haven't really had time to examine the bones. I barely got them prepared before you arrived." He began laying out all the photographs of the body he had taken. "Here!" he said pointing to one particular photograph. "These are clearly male genitalia" he said. Brennan picked up the photograph and studied it for a moment. _The tissue was quite decayed, but unmistakable _she thought before placing it down on the table. She picked up and examined another of the chest, and the throat and the face and a full length body shot. There was no denying it, she was looking at a man. Youngish, around twenty six or seven, Anglo, probably handsome from the basic structure of the face. Short light brown hair, and what had been a neatly trimmed goatee. She picked up the picture of the victims genitalia again, tilting her head.

"Your husband thought it was a man" Monty said. Brennan looked across at Monty. "Well, I'm fairly certain Booth would barely have looked at the remains. He's less, how can I say, enthusiastic about human remains than I am. I must admit, had I been a single woman and met this man, and found myself in a sexually charged situation where I saw him naked, I would have quite possibly believed he was a man. I think that whoever did this surgery, did a very good job" Brennan said. "But, I'm fairly certain that had that meeting resulted in intercourse, well, I would be quite surprised if this member would function normally." she added thoughtfully. "Did you retain any of the tissue?" she asked suddenly.

Monty frowned "Of the genitalia? No. But there are some blood and tissue samples in the fridge" he said. I was going to send them away in the morning.

"Make sure you ask for genetic testing" she said shortly.

"So now that we have established that our victim is in fact _not_ male. Did you discover anything that tells us cause of death?" Brennan looked at Monty, who was feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

Monty was still staring at the photographs, and shaking his head. "I can't believe I didn't pick up on that" he said. Brennan walked behind him to the end of the slab. "Don't feel too bad. Not everyone has my expertise, although I would have thought that you would have looked more carefully at the skeleton and realised what you were dealing with" she said bluntly.

Monty put down the photograph and looked at Brennan "You're right of course. I should have been more thorough." he said not trying to justify his shortcomings. Brennan half closed her eyes and smiled "Cause of death?" she asked again.

Monty cleared his throat, "Umm yes. It would appear that our victim was strangled." he said.

Brennan centred her attention around the neck of the skeleton. "Yes, of course. There are small fractures here on the C7 and here on the C5" she said pointing to the bones. There was bruising on the neck?" she asked, not looking at Monty. "Ah yes, there was." he said presenting two photographs of the victims throat. There were very clear bruises on the front and back of the neck . Brennan nodded, then turned and wrapped her hands around his neck, thumbs pressed firmly against the front of his throat. "I suspect that the victim was grabbed like this and the head forced backwards like this" she said as she tilted Monty's head backwards, his arms flailing in the air. "Not enough to snap the neck completely, but definitely enough to cause these small fractures" she said letting go of Monty and re-examining the bones. "The thumbs applying enough force to crush the windpipe and cause asphyxiation."

They spent another three hours or so going over the body looking for any other anomalies, but found nothing except old injuries to one of the ankles and toes. "This is a clear break, which from probably happened in the early teens" Brennan confirmed after examining the right ankle. "And I am fairly certain that our victim was a ballet dancer in her younger years. See how there are stress fractures in the second metatarsals? And of course the Hallux Valgus of the big toes" Brennan picked up the toe bone and held it out to Monty.

"Bunions" he said. Brennan nodded. "I suspect her dancing career may have ended after that ankle break. I looks fairly severe." she added. "See here? there are pins" she said pointing to the tiny metallic pins. Monty nodded, adding more notes to the file.

"You can drive me home now, thankyou Doctor Brython" Brennan said suddenly standing up straight. She removed the lab coat she had used and dropped it on a chair, and picked up her handbag. She stood expectantly by the door.

Monty looked from her to the skeleton and back to her. "Is that it?" he asked. "You don't want to examine the body further?"

Brennan smiled and shook her head "No need. You have the cause of death. You also have the knowledge that your victim had gone through what appears to be a successful sex change operation. I would have the tissue and blood tested for hormone therapy also. I would imagine he was on some very hefty doses considering how masculine he appeared." she said as Monty walked her to his car.

She looked at her watch and yawned, covering her mouth with her hand quickly "I'm sorry! It's been quite an eventful day, don't you think?" she said as Monty opened the car door for her.

They drove in silence back to Brennan's hotel. He pulled the car into the car park and put it into neutral, turning and holding out a hand to Brennan. "It's been a pleasure meeting and working with you today Doctor Brennan. Truly the highlight of my career" he said. Brennan grasped his hand and shook it, "I'd hardly call it a career. I hope you learned something" she said abruptly, then added "It's been very nice meeting you too Doctor Brython." He held her hand a little longer "Monty, please" he said. Brennan looked down at his hand holding onto hers, then pulled it from his grasp awkwardly.

"Goodnight Doc. Monty" she said as she got out of the car.

"I do hope we meet again Doctor Brennan!" he called out as she shut the door.

"I'm sure you do" she muttered as she turned and walked towards the hotel entrance.


	10. Chapter 10

Brennan lifted her arms and stretched them upwards. She yawned widely and wriggled her fingers and toes. She let her arms drop heavily to her sides. Yawning again she turned her head and cracked her eyes slightly. Peering through her lashes she saw that his side of the bed was empty. Her hand reached across and lay on the spot where he normally would be. The sheet was cold. She turned her head and her bleary eyes found her phone sitting on the bedside table. She picked it up and ran her finger across the screen. Booth and Christine's wide grins greeted her. She smiled, her heart filling up with love for her family.

Booth had taken their picture on her phone and set it as her wallpaper early this morning while she was still sleeping. He had replaced the phone without disturbing her and taken Christine down to the beach to search for fancy shells to add to her growing collection of _Aussie _things.

Brennan dropped her hand to her chest, pressing the phone against her heart and smiled. I suppose I should get up she thought, then remembered her work last night, her eyes flying open, blinking several times as they adjusted to the brightness of the room. She looked at her phone again, this time focussing on the time. 10:45am

She sat up suddenly, her head whirled for a moment. _Ooh! Sat up a bit quick!_ she thought, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, dropping her feet to the floor. She sat for a moment, the whirling stopped. She swallowed, then stood up and walked over to the armoire and grabbed a pair of khaki shorts and a white t-shirt, clean underwear and headed to the bathroom.

* * *

Booth and Christine burst through the door of the apartment laughing. Their faces were red and they had sand stuck to their feet and lower legs. Brennan came out of the bathroom, her hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Her face was devoid of makeup apart from some mascara and a pale pink lip gloss. Booth's breath caught in his chest at the sight of her.

"Daddy! You're squeezing my hand!" Christine piped up. Booth looked down and saw that he was gripping his daughters hand firmly. He let go and bent down and kissed the top of her head and whispered "sorry baby, Mommy kind of took my breath away. She looks pretty today, don't she?" he said. Brennan tilted her head and pursed her lips, "doesn't she. Please Booth, grammar?" she said, then blushed. Booth stepped over to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. They overlapped by a good half forearm. He looked at Christine and grinned "Mommy looks pretty _doesn't_ she Christine?" he repeated.

"Oh Booth" Brennan wriggled trying to get out of his grip, which simply tightened. "Kiss me first and say please" he teased. Brennan stopped struggling and stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if she would play or defy him. Defying would definitely be more fun. But. Their daughter was present, so she simply kissed his cheek and purred in his ear "please". Booth felt a shiver run down his spine. She could reduce him to the consistency of pudding when she did that. He let go of her and watched as she went into the garden to hang up the wet towels.

As Brennan walked back into the apartment she looked down and stopped short, throwing her arms up "Booth! Look at your feet!" she cried. Booth looked down and realised he had sand all over his feet and legs. He looked at Christine who was wriggling her toes to dislodge the sand onto the tiled floor. "Uh oh. Guess we are in trouble Christine" he said. He picked her up and carried her to the garden where he proceeded to use a hose and wash the sand off their legs and feet. He then grabbed the towel Brennan had just hung up to wipe their feet.

"Booth!" Brennan started to tell him off, then simply rolled her eyes, bit her lip and decided it wasn't worth the argument. It was better than them traipsing wet footprints through the apartment.

"OK. Are we allowed back inside?" Booth asked from the doorway, one foot suspended mid air over the threshold, his smirk causing her mouth to twitch. She had trouble staying mad at him at the best of times. "Yes. Of course." she said as she approached him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her mouth. "sorry" he whispered into her lips. She smiled as she kissed him. He smelled of the sea. That warm salty smell that made you think of tropical islands and swimming in the ocean.

"This is so embarrassing" Christine broke their kiss as she pushed between them and headed towards the bathroom.

"Where does she come up with this stuff!" Booth said watching his not quite six year old shaking her head as she disappeared into the other room. "Well. She is quite advanced and very mature for her age. Her IQ is probably close to MENSA scores. Perhaps I should arrange for her to be tested?" Brennan's head tilted as she started making plans for the scholarly awards her daughter would no doubt win in the coming years.

"Bones. Bones!" Booth's voice interrupted her daydream. "She's six Bones. And yes, she's smart, but let's not push her OK? She says these things to get our attention." he said.

"She watches too much television with you!" Brennan responded. She was going to continue but then remembered the previous night. "Forget that, I have to talk to you about last night Booth".

Christine came back into the room "Sweetie, you can turn on the TV and watch something for a while. Daddy and I are going to sit on the deck for a little bit OK?" Brennan said. Booth's mouth dropped open.

"Wait. Didn't you just say she watched too much TV?" he asked, his eyes wide and questioning.

Brennan simply stared at him. He raised his hands in a defensive position "OK. OK. Forget I asked" he said, taking a step backwards and feigning fear. She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door.

"I need to talk to you about last night" she nodded her head towards the doorway "Away from little ears" she added, making a lip locking motion and throwing away an invisible key. Booth frowned, his mouth hanging open, "What? What are you doing?" he asked shaking his head.

She rolled her eyes, "I want to talk to you in private!" she replied. Booth stared for a moment, thought about correcting her mime, then decided to just let it go. "O-K then. After you" he said, bowing slightly as she passed him. He followed her out, stifling the laugh bubbling up in his throat. Her ability to completely cock up basic idioms still made him laugh and just want to hug her.

* * *

Booth followed her outside and sat in one of the chairs on the deck. Brennan slid the door closed behind her so that Christine couldn't hear them.

She pulled a chair close to Booth's and sat down, leaning towards him, her eyes sparkling.

"So. What happened?" Booth asked, curious now.

"Well. Can I just say that Monty fellow is very strange." She said.

Booth rolled his eyes "Shocker" he quipped.

"Well. Most importantly. Your FBI Agent isn't a man. He. Err She, is a woman." Brennan said, barely containing the excitement in her voice.

Booth stared at her for a moment. "What? That's impossible." he said.

"No. It's completely possible. Because your FBI Agent had a sex change operation at some point in the last five years, but of course without the soft tissue to confirm it, I'm only surmising." She sat back in her chair and waited for Booth's reaction.

He stared at her. Leaned back into his chair, folded his arms across his chest and stared out at the garden. "Sex change operation" he murmured. "Sex change operation?" he repeated. Brennan raised an eyebrow and smiled, nodding "Sex change operation" she echoed.

"How the hell?" Booth said, shaking his head.

"Well it is called a metoidioplasty. The patient is treated with hormones for a period of time, then a surgeon separates the enlarged clitoris from the labia minora, and then severs its suspensory"

"Stop. Please stop" Booth said, his face screwed up, eyes closed and his hand shielding him from Brennan's words. "I actually don't want to hear about someone else's genitals at this time of the day, thanks" he said.

Brennan tilted her head and smiled "But it's really a fascinating procedure Booth! To actually use hormones to enlarge a womans clitoris to the point where it can resemble a penis!"

Booth cringed.

"Granted a very small penis. But still for someone who wants gender reassignment, it's far less gruesome than having a phalloplasty" she continued.

Booth reached over and placed his hand over her mouth. "Shhhhh. I get it Bones. She turned herself into a man. That's all I need to know. Not about severing, or cutting." Booth said, shuddering. He removed his hand and smiled at her. "And what did Monty Python have to say? I'm assuming from your tone, he hadn't worked that out?" he asked.

Brennan shook her head. "Brython" she corrected Booth, ignoring his attempted joke. "That's the thing Booth. He's a trained medical practitioner. He's been studying for years, yet he hadn't picked up on the basic female skeleton!" she said. "I'm just not sure about him" she added staring at Booth who shrugged.

"Perhaps we should pay old Monty a visit?" he mused.

"I thought you said we weren't going to get involved? That we were going to be leaving for Brisbane tomorrow?" Brennan said. Booth grinned at her "You want to stay too, don't you?" he said. Brennan nodded, sucking on her bottom lip, trying not to grin too much. "But what about Christine? It's not fair on her Booth."

Booth stared at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Max" he said. "What?" Brennan asked, confused. Booth smiled, "We fly Max out her for a week. He can spend time with Christine, see the sights. He'll love it! And we can spend one week, on the case. After that, we're gone." he said grinning widely.

"But what if he can't, or won't come?" Brennan asked. Booth grinned even wider "He'll come. Don't you worry about that." he said. What Brennan didn't know is that Max owed Booth a huge favour. He had been caught up in something, shady a few months ago. And Booth had helped him. Tidy up. _He'll come alright _Booth nodded to himself, standing up and heading to the door. "I'm going to call him right now." he said sliding open the glass door. "Guess what Christine? Grandpa is coming to stay with us for a week!" he announced!

Christine jumped up from the couch and cheered "Hurray! I love Grandpa! When is he coming?" she asked jumping up and down on the spot. "Booth was on the phone, waiting for Max to answer. "Probably on. Max! Hey! How's it going?" he listened to Max "Yep. It's fantastic here. So look, remember that agreement we had? You know the one." Booth said grinning to himself. "So I'll book the flight from here. I'll message you the time and flight number. We'll see you in a day or two." He turned and nodded to Brennan, grinning. "Yeah, she's excited to see you too Max. And it's hot, so bring shorts and shirts." he added.

He hung up the phone. Stretched his arms out wide and laughed "He's packing right now. Now, where's the laptop. I need to book his flight" he said grabbing the computer and sitting down at the table. Brennan stared at him, her mouth slightly open "How did you get him to agree?" she asked. Booth shrugged "Let's just say it was a gentleman's agreement" he said as he typed. "There we go! He's booked on a flight tonight. He should be here tomorrow evening. Now where's my credit card?" He sat back in his chair and patted his chest once he had completed the transaction.

"One week, OK?" Booth said to Brennan holding out a hand to her. She hesitated, then reached out and grabbed his hand. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist, looking up into her face. She smiled down at him, cupping his handsome face in her hand "One week" she agreed.

"I suppose you're gonna start kissing again" a voice interrupted their gaze. They smiled as they continued staring into each others' eyes. Theirs was a bond like no other. Not even the undisguised embarrassment of their daughter could break their stare. Well, not until she bounded over to them and wrapped her arms around their heads and pushed her face between theirs. "kissy kissy kissy" she said, making smooching noises. Brennan and Booth both reacted and started kissing her cheeks from either side making her squeal with laughter.

Booth lifted his head and winked at Brennan above Christine's tousled head.

"one week" she whispered.


	11. Chapter 11

"Grandpa Max!" Christine yelled as she ran towards her grandfather. Booth followed her across the airport waiting lounge towards the gate. She had seen Max as soon as he had come around the corner. His hand held high, waving to his beloved granddaughter. He loved Christine more than anything in this world. Granted, Russ had two step daughters whom he adored, but Christine, well, she was special. She was his daughter's first child. He always said _first_ child, because he was certain there would be more. It was just a matter of time.

"Christine!" Max dropped his coat and bag and reached out as the little girl flew into his hands. He lifted her high and swung her around, his heart bursting as she giggled. He lowered her and perched her on his hip and wrapped his arms around her, smothering her chubby cheeks with scratchy Grandpa kisses.

"Grandpa Max! That tickles!" she chortled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kisses a thousandfold. Max breathed a sigh of contentment and held her close. She was something, this child. He looked up to see Booth grinning at him and his daughter. Max lowered Christine to the ground, pointing to his coat and bag. "Can you grab those for Grandpa?" he asked her, then stepped towards Booth, his hand outstretched.

"She's getting so big! Hello Son." he said as Booth grabbed his hand, then pulled the older man in for a quick man hug, patting him on the back. "Max. Good to see you. How are _things_?" he asked, winking. Max shrugged and dipped his chin "Good. Still can't get you to call me Dad, can I? Not to worry. _Things_ are good, thanks to you. You haven't mentioned anything to Tempe?" he asked. Booth shook his head "No. I said I wouldn't. Thanks for coming so quickly." he said. Max smirked "Well it's not like I had a choice, is it? Why is it so hot here?" Max asked mopping at his face with shirt sleeve. "It's summer here Max. I told you to pack shorts. You have other bags?" Booth looked at Christine who was holding Max's coat and hand luggage.

Max nodded, "Yes. Just a small case". They walked towards the baggage carousel to wait for Max's suitcase. Max retrieved his bag and coat from Christine who was dragging it along behind her. Ten minutes later they were out of the airport and driving back to the hotel where Brennan was. She had not felt well this morning, so Booth told her to stay in bed and rest. He handed his phone to Christine and asked her to call her mother to tell her they were on their way. "Tell her we will go out for lunch, so she doesn't have to worry about making anything" he said over his shoulder as Christine listened to the ringing.

"Hi Mommy. It's me. Daddy asked me to tell you we have Grandpa and we're going to go out for lunch. He's sweating a lot!" she waited, listening to her mother then nodded and hung up the phone. "She says you're probably dressed for the arctic. And that's good about lunch. Can I play a game Daddy?" she asked holding out the phone. "Sure baby" Booth said. Christine smiled and opened a game on her father's phone, sitting happily amused in the back seat.

"Tempe's OK, right?" Max asked Booth, a frown creasing his forehead. Booth glanced at him "Yeah, she had a bit of an upset tummy last night. And she was just a bit tired this morning. Nothing to worry about. How do you feel? It's a bloody long flight!" Booth said. Max looked at him "_a bloody long flight?_ You picking up some of the local lingo?" Max laughed.

Booth blushed "Oh, sorry. I guess I have! You sort of just fall into it. Everyone says it here." Max shot a glance at Christine. "In front of her?" he asked. Booth laughed, "Yeah, in front of her. We've told her that it's the way Aussies talk, but that she isn't allowed to say it. She's not too bad. We did hear her yelling at a bird in the yard the other day that came so close, it stole her sandwich." Booth started laughing "She was so mad. She was running around yelling at the bloody birds. We were hiding inside laughing at her. I wish I'd videoed her Max. It was hilarious!" Max was staring at him "The birds steal your food here?" he asked.

Booth shrugged "Not all birds Max, it's just that where we are staying, the birds are quite tame. They get fed a lot by people staying there. This one got a little too friendly I guess" he said grinning. Max mopped at his face again "Why is it so damn hot?" he repeated. Booth smiled and reached down and switched on the air-conditioning. "You get used to it. Today isn't even all that hot Max! It's only eighty degrees! You look around, the locals are wearing sweaters! They're used to it being much hotter than this." Booth explained.

Max rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. Booth smiled to himself and turned his attention back to the road. Max was getting older. _He's got to be getting close to seventy,_ Booth thought to himself. _Maybe I shouldn't have flown him out here. Maybe it's too much for him? _Booth frowned and glanced at Max again.

"I'm just tired from the flight Booth. I'm fine" Max said without opening his eyes.

Booth cringed. _Bloody hell, how does he do that?_ He thought to himself, then grinned at himself saying bloody again.

* * *

Booth pulled the car into the parking bay of their apartment and tooted the horn to let Brennan know they were back. He was just closing the trunk of the car when the door flew open and Brennan came flying out of the door, into her father's arms.

"Dad! I'm so happy you were able to come!" she cried. Max wrapped his arms around his daughter and kissed her hair "Tempe. Hello baby." he whispered. "I've missed you!"

Brennan closed her eyes, feeling the tears pricking at the corners of them_. I don't know why I'm so emotional today?_ She thought to herself, hugging him tighter. "Are you trying to break my ribs?" Max's voice broke through her thoughts. She let go of her father and smiled sheepishly, "sorry. I'm just so happy to see you Dad!" she said.

Max returned her smile "Do you have a bathroom where I could freshen up? I really need to change out of this shirt" he said, pulling at his thick flannel shirt that was clinging to him.

Brennan frowned "Why on earth would you wear a flannel shirt Dad?" Max looked at her "Because it was only thirty five degrees when I left home yesterday. I expect you forgot that it's winter back home!" he replied, unbuttoning his shirt. Brennan laughed "I had forgotten to be honest. We've been loving the weather here! Come on." She said leading the way into the apartment and showing Max to his room which had an ensuite bathroom. Max dropped his bags on the bed and looked around.

"Hey! This is pretty nice!" He walked over and looked out the window which had a view of the back yard. He jumped back as a bright red and blue bird landed on the window ledge and tapped on the window with it's beak. "What the hell?" he yelled. Brennan stood in the doorway and smiled "That's one of our backyard birds" she said happily. "They live in the big tree over there" she pointed to a large gum tree through the window. "Christine feeds them every morning. They're quite tame!" she explained.

Max turned and shook his head "I can see that! I'll just have a quick shower and change before lunch if that's OK?" Brennan nodded. "Of course! Make yourself at home. We're in no hurry for lunch. We sort of have adopted the Aussie mentality of _no worries mate_. It's quite a refreshing way to live! Just do things when you feel like it! It's going to be hard going home to a strict routine, I have to say. We'll be in the back yard when you're ready Dad." Brennan stepped up and kissed her father on the cheek. "Thanks again for coming" she said, then turned and left him to unpack and freshen up.

* * *

"So how exactly did you get Dad to come on such short notice Booth? I know he hates flying. What did you say to him?" Brennan questioned Booth.

Booth shuffled in his seat. He didn't want to get into this conversation with her. He promised Max that he wouldn't say anything about their agreement. But Bones was not going to let this just lie. "You must have done something or offered him something Booth. I know my father. Did you threaten him?" Booth turned and frowned "What? No! Why would I threaten him? I just asked him. I told you Bones." he said. "Christine! Want to play kick?" he tried to change the subject, but Brennan was determined. "Dad loves Christine, but flying for twenty three hours to baby sit her for a week? You must have said, or done something" she pressed.

Booth leaned back in his chair and covered his face with his hands. He wasn't going to get away with not telling her much longer. He hated keeping things from her. But he had promised Max. He was either going to be in trouble with one or the other. "Trust me. It's nothing Bones. I asked him. He agreed. I paid for his ticket. He's getting a holiday in Australia with his granddaughter! Why wouldn't he say yes?" Booth persisted.

Brennan sat staring at him, her brow furrowed, her nose crinkled "there's a bad smell like rotting fish" she said. "fishy. It's something smells fishy, Bones." Booth said smirking at her. She shook her head flicking her hair "I don't care how it smells, I don't believe you Booth." She stood up. "I'm going to go and ask him" she said suddenly.

Booth stood up and reached for her arm "He's having a shower. He just got off of a twenty three hour flight. The man is exhausted. If he doesn't fall asleep while eating lunch I'll be surprised. Can we just have a nice lunch with him and you can talk to him this afternoon" he said. _And hopefully he will go to for a nap after lunch and you'll let it drop. _ He silently thought to himself. Brennan stood staring at him for a minute, then dropped back into her chair "fine" she said shortly, crossing her arms.

_Immediate crisis averted_ Booth thought to himself as Christine came bounding up and threw herself into his chest "Are we going soon? I'm hungry!" she announced. Booth lifted her onto his lap and tried to smooth her hair which had escaped from her pigtail "yes baby. Grandpa Max is just having a quick shower and then we'll get going" he said, looking at his watch. _he is kind of taking a long time_ he thought to himself.

"Perhaps you better go check on him Bones?" he asked her. "I'll go!" Christine announced. Brennan stood up again, "No Christine. Can you do it please Booth? I need to redo Christine's hair" she said, pulling her daughter to her and removing the hair elastic, deftly using her fingers to comb Christine's unruly hair into some sort of order and into a pigtail. "Your hair Christine!" she said as Christine pulled away from her "Ow! Mommy! That hurts!" Brennan sighed "I know, but if you didn't have such unruly hair!"

Christine pulled away from her mother "I have hair just like Daddy's! Does he have unruly hair?" she asked petulantly, her bottom lip pouting. Brennan stared at her daughter, biting her lip to stop herself laughing. She looked exactly like her father at that moment. Her eyes, though were just like hers, clear blue, defiant. _Which is also like me_ Brennan thought to herself, shaking her head. "If your daddy grew his hair longer, yes. It would be unruly, just like yours" Brennan said, a smile pulling at her lips.

* * *

Booth stood outside Max's bedroom door and listened. He couldn't hear the shower running. He knocked softly. _no answer _"Max?" Booth called softly through the door. _nothing_ He cracked the door and peeked in. Max was on his back lying across the bed, his bare legs, astride, hanging over the side. His robe had fallen open and Booth was faced with his father-in-laws junk staring him in the face.

Booth closed his eyes and covered his face with his hand "Oh jeez! I did not need to see that! Why me!" he muttered, while thinking _thank god we didn't send Christine in to get him!_ He entered the room, trying to avert his gaze from the older man. He sidled up to the bed, his hand still across his face, peeking through the gap between two fingers and without looking down, grabbed the corner of the quilt and pulled it across Max's body covering the offending bits of him that Booth really didn't want to see. _there are just some things a guy doesn't need to know about his father in law_ Booth thought to himself, shuddering, trying to erase the vision from his mind.

He closed the bedroom door behind him. Smiled and headed out to Brennan and Christine.

"Looks like we're going to lunch on our own. Max has crashed." he said to Brennan. Christine's bottom lip dropped "But I wanted Grandpa Max to come!" she sulked. Booth twirled her newly done pigtail around his fingers "yes I know. But Grandpa Max is tired Christine. He was on a plane for a really long time. Let's let him sleep, and then I'm sure he will be ready to go out for dinner with us. What say, we go get some fish and chips and sit on the beach for our lunch?" he bribed his daughter with a picnic on the beach, which he knew she loved. Christine wasn't convinced at first, but then realising that she would not only get a picnic lunch, but also dinner out with her grandpa, let out a whoop.

Brennan smiled, Booth always knew how to get around Christine. She stood up and kissed him on the cheek "thankyou" she said softly gazing into his eyes. He never needed her to say I love you when she looked at him like that. It was right there in her eyes. He nodded, then clapped "Let's go!" he said jauntily. They locked the back door and headed to the front door, Brennan stopping only to write a quick note to Max about where they were, and telling him to help himself to anything in the fridge. She grabbed the beach bag she kept packed with clean towels and sunblock, threw in three bottles of cold water and followed Booth and Christine to the car.

Booth stood with the trunk of their car open waiting for her. She put the bag in the trunk and Booth dropped a kiss on the back of her neck as she bent over. She tilted her head forward allowing him to run his lips down the side of her neck to her shoulder where he nibbled at her skin. She giggled then shrugged him off "That's enough of that, or we'll end up back inside Mr!" she said turning and looking at him from under her lashes.

"and that's enough looking at me with those bedroom eyes Mrs Booth" he said. "Actually" a completely random thought came to him, "have you thought any more about changing your name?"

Brennan stood up and stared at him, eyes wide. "Where did that come from?" she asked surprised. They hadn't talked about this for years. He had asked her when they first got married, but at the time she had simply said that with all her articles and published books, it would seem odd to change her name. He had hugged her, and told her to just think about it.

Booth was a little old fashioned and loved the idea of her being Temperance Booth. After all, Christine was a Booth. She knew her mother had a different last name, but they had never really talked about it that much.

Booth shrugged "I don't know. It just popped into my head!" he said. Brennan stepped back so he could close the trunk and walked around to the passenger seat, pulling open the door and looking into the back seat to make sure Christine had her seatbelt on properly. She got into her seat and pulled her own seatbelt around her and clicked it into place. Booth settled into the driver's seat and turned and looked at her "Well?" he asked vaguely.

Brennan frowned at him "Well what?" she said. She knew he was waiting for an answer but this was not the time, nor the place for that discussion. Booth stared for a moment, then bit his bottom lip and turned the ignition key. They drove in relative silence to the beachside cafe. He parked the car and got out, while Brennan undid Christine's seatbelt. They walked into the cafe, placed their order and sat on the bench under the window while they waited.

"sorry" Booth said quietly across Christine's head. Brennan looked down at her wedding ring. It was shining as the sun reflected off it. She twisted it around on her finger. She sighed softly. She knew how much Booth wanted her to have his name. He wanted them to be the Booth's. _we are the Booth's_ she thought to herself_. just because I don't use his last name, I still think of myself as Mrs Seeley Booth_ She suddenly had an epiphany. _if I feel like Mrs Booth, why don't I just be Mrs Booth! I can still be Temperance Brennan as far as my professional life is concerned!_ She looked up into his eyes "OK" she said simply.

Booth frowned, not understanding for a moment. "Wait. What? Really?" he said smiling at her hopefully. Brennan smiled and nodded. Booth jumped up and fistpumped the air. Several customers turned and stared at the handsome man who was jumping around as though he had sat on an anthill. He leaned over Christine and kissed Brennan thoroughly. Christine pushed at them "Please! Come on you two! We're getting fish and chips!" she objected. Then before they could say anything to her, she jumped up and looked at the other customers "I'm sorry, but my parents just love each other that much" then sat back down again, while the people in the shop all burst out laughing.

Booth blushed, his face blood red and sat down hard on the bench. Brennan sat looking down at the floor, also red in the face. Then they both started to giggle along with everyone else. Someone started clapping and soon everybody in the shop was applauding them, which made Booth's face burn even hotter. Brennan however stood up and took a bow, much to Christine's disgust.

* * *

They collected their order and walked down onto the sand. Brennan pulled a picnic blanket out of the bag and spread it out on the warm sand. She applied a liberal amount of sunblock to Christine and Booth before herself, then they sat down and enjoyed the salty goodness of the hot golden fried potato chips and crispy battered fish.

Booth licked his fingers and lay back down on the blanket, shading his eyes with his hand. "That was delicious!" he announced. Brennan bent over and kissed his lips. "mmmm and that's even more delicious!" he murmured as he kissed her back. She sat up and pulled a hat from the bag and put it on, shading her face from the sun. "No deeper than ankles Christine!" she called out as her daughter ran towards the water. Christine stopped and turned and yelled "I know! I've just eaten and I'll drown if I go any deeper!"

Booth laughed and reached out for Brennan "come here and kiss me again Mrs Booth" he said. She lay in the crook of his arm and happily obliged. "Did you mean it?" he asked softly, keeping one eye on Christine who was paddling in ankle deep water as instructed.

Brennan nodded into his chest "Yes. I actually do. I realised that I already think of myself as Mrs Seeley Booth. So why not change my name? My authors name doesn't have to change. So yes. When we get home, I'll apply to change it officially." she answered happily.

A shadow fell over them and Booth looked up to see Monty Brython standing over them. He was wearing an odd outfit comprising of bright pink and orange board shorts, with a blue shirt over a white singlet. A pair of mid calf length white socks and black rubber sandals completed his ensemble. He had a pair of binoculars around his neck. A large woman's purple sunhat was perched on his head with a brim so big it hung down in several places, creating the effect of a wave around his head.

"Python. What are you doing here?" Booth said, not hiding his annoyance. He moved so that he could see past Monty to where Christine was. She had moved out into the water and was standing in water that was lapping at her bottom. Booth jumped up and took off towards her yelling "Christine! You were told ankle deep!"

Monty grinned at Brennan widely "Fancy finding you here!" he said. Brennan's skin prickled. "Well it is a public beach Doctor Brython" she said frostily. There was something about him she couldn't put her finger on. She didn't quite know what it was, but it was there. Monty pointed at the rug "May I?" he started to bend down to sit. "No" Brennan said shortly. Monty stopped and stood up staring at her, then frowned "Oh. I'm interrupting. I apologise. I'll leave you to your family outing." he said, the tone in his voice barely masking his annoyance.

"I'm sorry Doctor Brython. I didn't mean to offend you. We're about to pack up and leave. My father is here for a week. We were just having lunch before going back to spend the afternoon with him and show him around." She said, regretting her rudeness, slightly. Monty bowed slightly "understood. No offence taken Temperance" he said. Booth walked up behind him, standing over him. Monty turned and pulled back from Booth's large frame. Booth scared Monty somewhat. "Agent Booth" he nodded. He smiled at Christine and bent down reaching out to tickle her cheek "hello sweetie".

Booth pushed Christine behind him. "We're just leaving" he said shortly. Monty bowed once again, deferring to Booth. "Of course. Of course. So sorry to have intruded. I simply wanted to say goodbye and thank you for your help. And to wish you good fortune for the rest of your holiday" he said.

"Actually Doctor Brython, we're staying another week. Agent Booth and I are going to consult on the case for the next week. To see if we can expedite the closure of the case" Brennan said.

Monty stepped back, a cloud crossing his face. "Oh. I see." he said shortly. "Well I guess, I'll see you later then. I guess. I thought you were going" he muttered as he turned and walked away.

"See? Crazy." Booth said to Brennan as they watched the odd little man walk down the beach and kick over a sand castle that had been left by some child. "Crazy!" Booth repeated.

Brennan stood and started packing up their picnic, shaking out the blanket before putting it back in the beachbag.

"Ready?" Booth asked as he helped Christine put on her flipflops.

"Booth. Do you get the feeling Monty wasn't happy that we were staying?" she asked.

"Totally, which is why I'm glad we are staying. There's definitely something not right there" he pointed in the direction Monty had walked. "And I intend to find out what it is before the end of the week." Booth said nodding his head.

They walked up the beach, back to the car, stopping to rinse their feet off at the community shower so they didn't fill the car with sand.

"Will Grandpa be awake when we get home?" Christine asked.

"He will once you get there" Booth sniggered.

"Good!" Christine said, not understanding her father's joke.

Brennan looked at Booth and shook her head, "you're terrible" she said, but laughing at him. Booth grinned back at her "He's got no idea what he's in for, does he?" Booth asked.

"not a clue" Brennan said and they both started laughing as they drove out of the car park.


	12. Chapter 12

Booth and Brennan were with Superintendent Marshall, going over the evidence they had put together. Brennan had just finished explaining her findings to him.

"You're kidding! That was a woman?" Marshall exclaimed.

Brennan shook her head. "No. She was a man who used to be a woman. There's a difference." she said firmly. Marshall shook his head. "Bloody weirdo" he said. Booth opened his mouth, but Brennan forced him to close it quickly with a kick to his ankle. "There is nothing weird about a person who is confused about their sexuality, There are many documented cases of people trapped in a body they cannot cope with." she said, staring at Marshall.

Superintendent Marshall opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it when he saw the look on Brennan's face. She was not a woman to be trifled with he suspected. He leaned back and rocked his chair onto it's two back legs, his feet landing heavily on the desk in front of Brennan, who jumped backwards in her chair.

"Well. This has to be one of the strangest bloody cases I've had to deal with since, well, bugger me, since forever!" Marshall announced loudly.

Booth looked down at the document in his hands and tried to cover his smirk. He really liked this crusty older man. He called a spade a spade and spoke his mind, with no interest in who he might offend or put onto the back foot.

He looked up at Marshall "Do we have an ETA on the "

"Where is he?" a shriek cut through his sentence. Booth swivelled in his seat and saw a young man bursting through the door. His tear streaked face, and wringing hands taking him by surprise. Brennan looked him up and down, her brow furrowed. "Do you realise you're interrupting us?" she spoke up sharply. Booth reached over and gently squeezed her arm. He knew exactly who had just entered the office.

* * *

"Christopher! Where is he?" the man screamed again, making both Booth and Brennan flinch.

Marshall dropped his feet to the floor and stood up and banged on the desk. "Stop that damned shrieking!" he yelled loudly.

The young man faltered, and stood still, his hands pushing through his messy hair, then roughly wiping over his face, leaving a dirty streak of dirt behind. Brennan reached into her pocket and pulled out a tissue and handed it to the man, who took it and blew his nose rather loudly, then mopped at his eyes again.

"Chris?" he whimpered. Booth felt a tug in his chest. He'd dealt with people his entire career who had lost loved ones. Each person responds differently, but emotionally, they are all the same. Broken hearted.

He stood up and gestured to the man to take his seat, patting him on the shoulder as he sat down. Booth perched on the corner of the desk and looked at him. He was probably between twenty eight and thirty, around five feet, eight, sandy coloured hair, hazel eyes. He had delicate hands, long fingers that jittered nervously as he tried to straighten his hair.

Marshall stared at him for a moment, then flicked through the file on the desk in front of him. He brushed some mud that had dislodged from the sole of his boot off onto the floor, cleared his throat, then looked at the man. "Simon Crispin?" he said. The man looked up at him and sniffed and nodded "Yes?". Marshall shook his head and referred to his notes, "You were friends with Christopher Belton?" he asked without looking at Simon.

"Yes. But we were a lot more than just friends" he said leaning forwards. "Look, I'm tired and I think I'm jet lagged, and frankly I'm scared. Where is Chris?" he asked, his eyes welling up with large wet tears that burst over his lower lids and landed on his cheek, splattering out into little star shaped pools.

Booth adjusted his seat on the corner of the desk and took a deep breath, thinking about how to tell this young man that Chris, was gone.

"There actually isn't really anything to show you." Brennan piped up. Her right leg crossed over her left knee, one hand on the arm of the chair, the other on her knee. "We can show you his skeleton, if that makes you feel better. And we have photographs of his remains, although I doubt you would be able to recognise him." she said bluntly.

Booth flinched and he looked at Brennan "Bones. Please" his hand making a downwards pushing motion, willing her to tone it down. She glanced up at Booth and saw his face. She opened her mouth to continue, then recognised that look on his face. The one that said _Please just stop talking_. She'd seen that before, many times. She looked down at her hand, gripping her knee and swallowed.

"I understand you're upset. You came expecting to be able to see his body, say goodbye. You still can. Plus we have this things. I'm. Sorry." she said reaching out and laying her hand on his arm.

Simon looked up at her, his eyes blurred with tears. He sniffed and covered her hand with his, his head dropping as he sobbed.

Brennan gritted her teeth and looked at Booth for help. His face softened and he smiled slightly at her. She relaxed and just let the man cry while he held her hand. She felt a lump in her throat, and a pricking at the corner of her eyes.

Marshall sat back down and turned his chair around and stared out the window. He couldn't deal with weeping women, let alone men. It made him uncomfortable. He never knew what to say, or do. He had a wife and four daughters and he lived with problems with hair, clothes that didn't fit, boyfriend worries, fights with best friends and women's troubles. He loved them dearly, but just couldn't deal with the crying thing.

They sat like that, Booth on the edge of the desk, swinging his legs to stop the pins and needles that was pricking at his foot, Brennan, holding the hand of the devastated young man, and Marshall sitting with his back to them, staring out the window, for what seemed like an hour.

Finally Simon lifted his head, used the already soggy tissue to wipe at his face unsuccessfully. Booth shoved his hand down into his trousers pocket and handed him a handkerchief. Simon smiled weakly and mopped his eyes and then blew his nose. He scrunched the hanky up and held it out to Booth who shuddered "No buddy. Keep it." he said recoiling slightly from the soggy fabric in front of him.

Simon sniffed deeply, cleared his throat and looked at Brennan. "I would like to see him. Whatever is left. I can't guarantee I won't break down again." he swallowed "But I need to see him" he said nodding.

Brennan slipped her hand out from under Simon's and looked at Booth. Marshall had turned around and was sitting with his hands folded on his desk in front of him. He looked at Booth and Brennan and back at Simon then planted his hands on the desk. "Fine. Take him. Come back when you're done." he said.

Booth stood up, "Not coming?" he asked. Marshall shook his head and picked up a pen. "Things to sign" he said. Booth chuckled and nodded. "OK. Bones?" he held out a hand to Brennan who took it in hers and stood up. They waited while Simon composed himself and stood up.

"I'm ready" he said.

"I'll expect you back here afterwards Crispin. I have some questions we need to ask" he said. Simon nodded and turned to follow Booth and Brennan out the door.

* * *

They were met downstairs by Monty who was hovering around the table that had the remains on it. A pale grey sheet covered the bones. Booth walked in front of Brennan and shielded her from Monty. "Python" he said distastefully, dismissing him with lift of his chin.

Monty sidestepped and said "Temperance! So lovely to see you again. Although I thought you would have gone by now. You know, continued on with your holiday?" he said. Brennan rolled her eyes and stepped to the opposite side of the table to him. "We told you we were staying, and it's Doctor Booth." Booth's head snapped up and he grinned at her. She blushed. It was the first time she had used Booth as her name to anyone. She liked the sound of it.

Monty frowned "You changed your name to his?" he said, shaking his head. "You can't do that!" he added. Booth stepped up and poked him in the chest "She's my wife. She can change her name to anything she wants to. And it's not your business, so back off Python" he growled.

"Brython. It's Brython you idiot!" Monty muttered under his breath. He just wanted them gone. Then all of this could just disappear and he could go back to his life. "I'll be upstairs when you're done" he said as he left.

Brennan stepped over to the head of the table and picked up the corner of the sheet and looked at Simon. "You're sure you're OK?" she asked gently. Simon nodded, holding Booth's handkerchief to his nose.

She pulled back the sheet revealing the clean white bones of Christopher Belton.

Simon sucked in a breath and stared. _This was all that was left of him. His Chris_. He walked over to the table and reached out and stroked the skull gently with his fingers. He looked up at Booth and Brennan, his bottom lip trembling. "It's really him?" he asked quietly. Brennan pressed her lips together and nodded.

Simon nodded and looked back down at the remains.

Brennan felt Booths hand grasp hers and pull her away from the table, leaving the young man with his thoughts for a while.

* * *

"He looks so sad Booth" Brennan said as she sat down in the hallway outside the morgue. Booth stood looking at her for a moment, then sat beside her, lifting his arm and placing it behind her shoulders pulling her to him. "Of course he's sad. The person he loves is dead. He didn't get to say goodbye. He's come halfway around the world and there's nothing to hold, or to tell that he loves. He's heartbroken Bones." he said softly.

Brennan leaned into his shoulder and they waited.

Simon came out of the morgue about thirty minutes later. He stared at them for a moment "Thankyou" he said. Booth stood up and reached out and patted him on the back. "It's tough. I know. Are you up to answering some questions?" Simon shrugged "I guess so. The quicker I answer them, the quicker I can go home." he said sadly. Booth patted his back again "OK. Let's go" he said.

* * *

Marshall looked at the young man opposite him. "State your full name please" he said. Simon frowned, "but you know my name". Marshall held up a hand "Just answer the questions. It's protocol and I just want to go home to my dinner" he said. Simon swallowed "Simon Anthony Crispin"

Simon answered all of Marshalls questions quickly and honestly. Marshall sighed "Now, I have to ask this. Christopher Belton's remains indicate that he was a woman." he glanced up at Simon. Simon nodded, much to Marshall's surprise.

"That's right. Christopher was a female at birth. I met him about twelve years ago. We were still in school. I fell for him right away." Simon said smiling as he remembered Chris. "Of course he was a she back then. It was funny because I knew I was gay from really young. Chris was a girl who felt she was a boy, trapped in the wrong body, and was dressing like one. School was horrific for him, or her, as she was. Anyway, we graduated and didn't see each other for a few years. When I met him again,he had begun the hormone therapy to help change him. We started dating. I was with him when he had the double mastectomy. I held his hand through the full hysterectomy. It was horrible watching him go through everything. He started working with the FBI, and he loved it. I was not sure it was the right career move but it was what he wanted. And I just wanted whatever made him happy" Simon looked at Marshall who was listening intently.

"So when did you see Christopher last?" Marshall asked. Simon breathed heavily "It was probably about three weeks ago. You probably already know I was here" he said looking at his hands. Marshall nodded "We have your travel records" he said.

"We came here to celebrate the finalisation of his transformation. He had finished with all the procedures, and he was so happy. It was our dream vacation. Anyway, we had been here for about four days and Chris" he choked on the words "Chris broke up with me. He said. He said that I had been a great support to him, but he wanted to find out what his life would be like now, and he couldn't do that with me hovering over him. Hovering!" Simon burst into tears again. Booth looked down at his hands. "I begged him to think about what he was saying. I had been there for him for years! I wanted to marry him! But he didn't need me any more. He said I was a reminder of the old him. He needed to start afresh."

Marshall and Booth looked at each other perplexed. This was not what Marshall had been expecting. They waited for a few minutes until Simon stopped sobbing.

"He went out that night and didn't come home for two days. When he did, he said he had met someone. He told me to go home. So I did." Simon shrugged again. "It was over. Just like that."

Brennan felt her heart contract. This poor young man had stood beside the one he loved through all the bad times and right when things were looking bright, he was rejected. She looked up at Booth, and felt her eyes prick with tears. She couldn't even imagine how she would feel if Booth did that to her.

"I was sure he would change his mind and come home to me. He never did. And now he never will." Simon finished.

Marshall cleared his throat. "Well. Now. Come on. You are probably better off without him, if that's what he thought. I'm sorry we had to put you through this. We will have to do some checks on your movements of course. But once we've done that. Well. You'll be free to go mate." he said.

Simon stood up and sniffed, and nodded. He turned to go to the door. "How long will it take?" he asked. Marshall pursed his lips "maybe two to three days?" he responded. Simon nodded "OK. Thanks. I'll wait for your call."

Marshall leaned back in his chair and linked his fingers behind his head "Well this isn't exactly what I thought. I'm usually spot on with my gut feeling" he said. Booth tilted his head to one side. "So what now?" he said. Marshall unlinked his hands and leaned forwards his hands splayed across the paperwork on the desk. "We dig a little more. He was gone for two days. Gone where? He must have been with someone. So we find out who that was." he said. "Townsville is not a big place. Someone will know. And I'm just the man to find out who it was" he said firmly standing up.

Booth and Brennan stood up and Marshall shook their hands. "I appreciate your help. I understand if you need to move on" Brennan cut him off "We're not going yet! We have arranged my father to stay with our daughter for a week. If we can't find out what happened in a week, then we will have to go. But until then, we're here to help." she said. Booth smiled at her. She was invested. He could see it on her face. She wanted to know what happened just as much as he and Marshall did.

Booth looked at Marshall "The boss has spoken!" he said and grinned. Marshall nodded "Well, that's bloody great! I'll be in touch" he said as he walked them to the door.

They ran into Monty who was outside the door. Booth glared at him. "What do you want?" he asked aggressively. Monty pressed his back against the wall "Nothing! I was just coming to see if you were done" he whined. "We're done." Booth snapped and stood between Monty and Brennan as she exited the office. "What did he tell you?" Monty asked Brennan. Booth lost his temper, turned and pushed Monty against the wall "Did I tell you to talk to her? No. I didn't. It doesn't matter what he hold us. It's none of your business. You are really getting on my nerves Python. Really!" Booth said as he let go of Monty and turned his back on him, guiding Brennan towards the exit.

* * *

Booth and Brennan walked through the office and Booth felt his anger waning. "I swear I'm gonna put my fist in his face if he talks to you again Bones" Booth snarled. Brennan shook her head "Who? Doctor Brython? He is rather odd. He seems to be overly concerned with what Simon told us. I don't see why he should be? It's very strange. _He_ is very strange." she said. Booth frowned _and I'm going to find out why he's so interested._

Booth nodded "Simon seems like an honest guy, don't you think?" he said to Brennan as they got into their car. She tilted her head, "I wasn't sure at first, but after talking to him, I agree. I don't think he's done anything wrong, apart from loving the wrong person" she said. Booth flicked a glance at her, surprised at her insight.

"What?" she said. "I get it. I'm not totally insensitive." Booth smiled "I never said that"

"I saw that look." she said.

Brennan suddenly felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She opened the car door and threw up.

"Bones! Are you OK? What's wrong?" Booth jumped out of the car and ran around to her side of the car. He grabbed her hair and lifted it back away from her face as she vomited again. She sat up and leaned back in the car seat "I'm sorry. I don't know why that happened! I just felt hot and then I was sick!" Booth picked a stand of hair off her forehead "Are you sure you're OK?" he asked concerned. Brennan nodded "Yes. I'm really thirsty. I don't think I've drunk enough today." Booth shook his head. "I've told you about that. The heat is much drier here. You need to keep your fluids up Bones" he said.

He opened the back door and found a bottle of water in the esky that they kept on the back seat. He opened it and handed it to her. She took a mouthful, swilled it around her mouth and spat it out onto the ground, then drank. "Don't gulp too much. You might be sick again" Booth reminded her. She nodded and leaned back and closed her eyes. He took the bottle and replaced the lid and handed it back to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She smiled "I'm fine. Let's go home" she said.


	13. Chapter 13

"Look, Max. I just want you to come with me. Listen to what I say, what other people say, take a few notes on the sly"

Max tilted his head and stared at Booth, "so I'm your wingman."

Booth shook his head and frowned "No! That's not what I said. You're. You're"

"I'm your partner!" Max announced.

Booth rolled his eyes and shook his head "Fine. You'll be my wingman." he said reluctantly.

Max grinned and clapped him on the back. "So what's the plan?" he asked. Booth sat down on the arm of the couch and went through his idea with Max.

"So we go to the local clubs and bars and wander around like we're together. You chat to people, gradually bring the conversation around to tourists passing through, and see if anyone mentions this Chris fellow, and I sneakily record the details on my phone like I'm talking to someone, but I'm actually dictating notes?" Max repeated.

Booth sighed and let himself drop from the arm of the couch to the seat and covered his face with one hand, leaning his elbow on couch arm. "Yes. Am I speaking another language? Why is this so hard for you to understand?" he asked exasperated at Max.

"I understand. I think it's genius that you want to act like we're, you know, a couple!" Max said. Booth stared at him, his mouth ajar "What? I never said we were a couple!"

Max pushed out his bottom lip and shook his head "Nobody from the gay community will talk if they think we are just a guy with his father in law" he said. Booth stared at Max and leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes, sighing "Fine. We'll be a couple." Max sat down and grinned at Brennan. Booth leaned forwards poking his finger in the direction of Max "But only in the gay bar" he said.

Max grinned "Excellent. I have just the shirt to wear!" and walked towards his bedroom. Booth stared after him his eyes wide, his mouth agape.

Brennan was sitting at the dining table watching him and started laughing.

"Don't. Just don't" Booth said, standing up, the palm of his hand held out towards her. He dragged his feet to their bedroom to get changed for his night out with Max.

_What the hell have I gotten myself into? _

* * *

Booth and Max entered the club. It was the last place on the list, and Booth was relieved. He was tired, and starting to think this was a futile exercise. The previous three places had yeilded nothing. The lights were dim. Every now and then a spotlight would flash over them, crossing the room in an arc, illuminating the patrons briefly. Booth stood at the top of the steps that led down to a dance floor and looked at his watch. 2:20am. He sighed and looked up. It was the only gay bar in town. He had hoped he wouldn't have to come here, but here he was. There were mirrored bars on the two walls either side of the club. The place wasn't too busy. It was a Thursday morning after all. He was about to step off the top step when he felt an arm link through his.

"What are you doing Max?" he hissed. Max looked up at him and batted his eyelashes "I'm getting into character" he said smiling sweetly at Booth. Booth tried to shake him off, but Max held on tightly. "you're going to make us fall down the stairs Booth" he chirped, smiling widely so that nobody would think there was anything wrong with the older man on the arm of the drop dead gorgeous younger man that was quickly drawing some admiring glances from some of the patrons.

Booth took a deep breath and accompanied Max down the stairs and headed towards one of the bars. They seated themselves on the crimson studded stools and Booth waved at the barman who was washing glasses at the end of the bar. He nodded back at Booth, rinsed off his hands and walked towards him, drying his hands on a crimson towel.

"What can I get you boys" he said.

Max leaned both elbows on the bar and cupped his face "I'll have a Shirley Tem" and was cut off by Booth kicking him in the shin. "Well have two beers. Light" Booth ordered firmly.

The barman smirked and winked at Max, turning to grab two large glasses and held them up "Pints honey?" he asked Booth, who swallowed and forced himself to smile back "Sure, thanks!" he said, remembering to soften his tone.

"But I wanted a Shirley Temple!" Max said "I've never tried one and it seemed the perfect opportunity to order one!" Booth rolled his eyes and leaned in close to Max's ear "We're not here trying to pretend we're gay Max. We're here to try to find out information about Chris, but not let on that's what we're doing. OK? Is your phone ready?" he asked Max as he pulled back and turned to thank the barman as he placed the two glasses of icy cold frothy beer in front of them.

Booth picked up the glass and took a long draught "mmm that hit the spot" he said smiling at the barman as he pushed cash towards him.

"American?" the barman purred. Booth picked up the glass and held it to his lips and nodded. "I've always wanted to travel there." the barman said as he placed Booth's change in front of him. "We get quite a few Yanks through here" he added.

Booth raised his eyebrows "Really? I can understand why. It's beautiful. We're certainly enjoying our time here" he said tilting his head towards Max who had spun around and was watching people dancing together on the dance floor. He had his phone clasped in his hand holding it like he was making a call.

"So what do you do?" the barman asked casually as he wiped down the bar's intricately glass tiled surface. Booth shrugged "I was with law enforcement back in the states. I'm on vacation." he added nonchalantly. "Really?" the barman placed his elbows on the bar and cupped his cheek in one hand "That's crazy! We had an FBI bloke in here just recently." Booth acted surprised "Really? Well that's interesting! What was his name?" he asked, hoping he sounded like he didn't really care.

"Um, jeez. Steve? no, that's not it. Cameron? Chris! That was him. Good looking guy. " the barman said.

Booth nodded "We Yanks usually are" he said with a wide grin. He and the barman laughed together.

"You've got that right mate" the barman said, giving him a coy wink. Booth smiled and swivelled on his chair, casually placing his arm on the bar behind Max. He leaned towards him slightly, "Finished your call?" he asked softly. Max nodded and placed the phone in his shirt pocket "No answer" he said lightly and turned around to grab his beer.

"Let's take a stroll around the dance floor and sit at the other bar. See if they have anything to add. At least we know he was here" Booth said. Max started doing a sort of cha-cha move as they crossed the edge of the dance floor. Booth clamped his lips together and grabbed Max by the arm and propelled him towards the bar "We're not dancing Max" he said sternly. Max turned and looked up at him, "But that song is so catchy!" Max said. "Do I look alright in this shirt?" he added smoothing down the pale pink and lime floral shirt he had chosen to wear.

Booth turned and looked at Max "Max, I think you've gotten a little too invested in this. We're _not_ trying to make people think we're a couple. I've already explained this to you" he said.

A short, middle aged man walked towards them and lay a hand on Booths arm, his fingers slipping up his forearm slightly making Booth cringe. "Dance honey?" the man asked. Booth stammered, but was saved by Max throwing an arm around his waist and leaning his head on Booth's shoulder "He's with me, do you mind?" he lisped. The man stared at Max then up at Booth, "you're with him? He's so old!" and walked off with a toss of his head.

"See?" Max said, then walked to the bar and sat down on a plush powder blue stool. Booth stood staring at him for a moment, then shook his head and followed his father in law to the bar and sat down. "I suppose you think you're so very clever now" he said. Max shrugged and fiddled with the buttons on his shirt. Booth rolled his eyes and turned round and held up a hand to catch the barman's attention.

"What can I get ya mate?" the young man asked. Booth looked up at the glass shelving in front of a large mirrored wall and pointed "What's that?" he asked. The barman looked in the direction Booth was pointing "This?" he said grabbing a tall bottle off the shelf, filled with a pale yellow liquid. Booth nodded. The barman smiled "Vanilla Galliano". Booth smiled, I'll have one of those. The barman grinned, "straight or mixed?" Booth smiled back "Surprise me" he said. The barman nodded and turned to mix Booth's drink.

He placed a tall glass in front of Booth. "Enjoy!" the barman said. Booth handed him the money for the drink and picked up the drink and took a sip. He was surprised at the sharply sweet flavour. "This is delicious!" he exclaimed. The barman nodded, "I know. So you're from the States?" he asked Booth.

"Yeah. We're on vacation. I needed a break from the job, you know?" Booth said screwing up his nose. Max was again, sitting staring out into the dance floor. He glanced back and smiled at the barman "My baby works so hard" then to Booth "I just need to call and make sure my puppies are alright, OK?" Booth glared at him, a tic beginning in his cheek. "Fine" he mumbled.

"So what do you do when you're not on vacation with your?" the barman asked, curious. Booth squirmed in his chair "My partner" he said, internally cringing. The barman's eyebrows popped up "Oh! OK" he nodded. Booth continued, wanting to get away from him and Max's 'relationship'. "I'm in law enforcement back home." he said casually. "I suppose you get a lot of tourists from the States here. It's pretty nice." he said, fishing. The barman smiled "Oh yeah. Heaps of 'em. Of course not all of them come in here." he said winking at Booth, who smiled and nodded his understanding. "We get some though. Usually young, single blokes, looking for some company, if you get my drift." the barman said.

"I can imagine. It's a nice place" Booth said. "Quite a few of the guys I work with recommended coming to Australia for vacation, so we thought, why not!" Booth added, hoping to draw something out of the young barman.

"Funny you should say that. We had a young couple come here about, um, three weeks ago, maybe? I can't quite remember. But I do remember he mentioned he was with the FBI, and about halfway through the evening they had a massive fight. I nearly called the cops, but one of them left. The other one, he hung around for hours. Nice enough bloke. Was buying rounds of drinks like he had a bottomless pit of money. He came back nearly every night for a week, then just stopped coming." he told Booth.

"Really? Wow. Pity we weren't here for that then. Who doesn't love free drinks hey!" Booth joked. The barman laughed and watched Booth drain the glass. "Another one?" he said. Booth screwed up his nose "Nah, too sweet. I'll have a beer." he said.

Booth paid for his drink and turned around and looked at Max, nodding his head for Max to follow him. They walked into the men's room and Booth did a quick sweep to see if anyone was in any of the cubicles. It was empty for now.

"So we know Chris was here. He had a fight with Simon. Simon left" Booth was ticking off facts in his head. "We just need to find out if there was anybody who saw him leave, and if he was with anyone." Max blew a long slow breath out, his cheeks puffed up, his lips pursed "So how are you going to do that?" Booth looked up at the ceiling "Ask" he said shrugging.

The door swung open and a man walked in and stared at them for a moment before unzipping his trousers and relieving himself in the white china urinal on the wall. He stared at Booth the entire time, making Booth's skin crawl. Max reached out and patted Booth's back "Come on honey, I just dying for another drink" he said. Booth sighed_. I'm never going to get this whole scenario out of my head_ he thought. He followed Max out of the men's room.

He sent Max off to buy more drinks and looked around the club. It wasn't too busy, so he decided to take a chance and go sit at a table next to a table full of young men, who looked more like locals than tourists. _He hoped_.

"Hi" he said nodding at the group of young men. A few of them simply stared at him for a moment then went back to their conversation. One however turned and stared at Booth for a moment. "American?" he asked. Booth nodded. "Ooh I just love you boys from the States" the man said, as the hair on the back of Booth neck stood up. "Really? Do you meet many of us?" Booth asked smoothly, hoping Max wouldn't come back just yet. "Not too many. But I did meet one a couple of weeks ago. Gorgeous. Chris. I wanted to buy him a drink but bloody Monty got to him first. What a waste. Oh well, you know how that sort of thing goes." the young man said. Booth shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed "Not really. Monty?" he asked simply.

The young man switched seats and sat at Booth's table "Well" he said leaning in close to him. Booth could smell the odour of bourbon and lime, and the cloying sweetness of the man's aftershave. _or was that perfume? _"Monty is known for picking up here. He loves you American boys. He's always looking for a new summer romance. Him and his '_I'm studying to be an anthropologist_' pickup line. Makes me sick." the man said rolling his eyes.

Booth decided to take a chance "So. Monty. He's a local?" Booth asked. The man held out a hand "I'm Jeff by the way" Booth took the proffered hand and shook it "Seeley" he said. The man smiled "Monty works in the morgue. He thinks he's so clever. But he's just a weasel. I don't trust him. Neither does Brent." he said.

"Brent?" Booth asked. The man smiled and pointed at a tall blonde man on the other side of the table. "Brent is my boyfriend. He knew Monty from Brisbane when he was at medical school, before he dropped out." Booth swallowed, but tried not to show his shock. "Oh he dropped out?" he asked casually as he could.

Jeff's eyes lit up. He obviously love gossiping and Booth was quite happy to let him, although he could throttle Max for not being here with his phone, recording this conversation. _Then again, would the young man have been so eager to chat had he been sitting with them?_

"Oh yes! Brent was a librarian at the Brisbane university. He told me that Monty only did a couple of years of his degree then just disappeared. Wasn't cutting it apparently. I guess he was lucky to find a job where he didn't need a degree. I mean, the morgue? Ugh. It gives me the willys. I guess it gives new meaning to the phrase 'I see dead people'" he started giggling at his own joke. Booth forced himself to laugh, but his brain was running overtime.

Max finally returned to the table and sidled into a chair next to Booth and held out a hand to Jeff "Max. I'm Booth's" Booth cut him off "Father in Law. He's my wife's father. Look, it's been great meeting you Jeff, but I have to tell you, I'm going to need you to come down to the police station and answer a few more questions for me" He flashed his badge at Jeff. Max stared at him "You're carrying your badge on vacation?" Booth glanced at him, then back at Jeff, "You're not in trouble, but I need to know a bit more about Monty. You'd be doing me a huge favour. And I'd like your friend Brent to come down with you if you could. It's easier than me issuing a warrant." he smiled at Jeff.

The young man stared at him for a minute then clapped his hands "I'd LOVE to come down. How exciting! Of course! We'll come down first thing in the morning." Jeff said then turned and squealed "Brent! You'll never guess!" Booth grabbed his arm "Look Jeff, I'd appreciate it if you kept things, you know" he made a key turning action in front of his mouth and pretended to throw away a key. Jeff's mouth formed an "O". "Oh, of course! Secret official business. Say no more. I'll see you in the morning Seeley".

Booth nodded and stood up, grabbing Max's arm and pulling him along while Max tried to finish his drink before they got to the door. He slammed his empty glass down on a table just before Booth pushed open the door and exited the club.

"Got him" he said quietly to himself.

* * *

"It was so much fun Tempe! Now I understand why you loved going under cover so much!" Max cried with laughter the next morning. "I completely had people thinking I was Booth's older boyfriend" he said. Brennan stared at her father, her mouth hanging open. Booth walked past Max and rolled his eyes. "not under cover Max." he said as Brennan followed him into the kitchen.

"You were pretending to be a gay couple?" she asked giggling. Booth huffed, "No! I was not pretending to be gay. I was. Leaving the suggestion open without acting one way or another. Your father on the other hand" he looked at Max pointedly, "was one step off of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert. If he had access to glitter and a one piece powder blue pantsuit? I don't even want to think about it" he said bending to kiss Brennan.

"Admit it Booth. My 'gayness' got you out of a couple of awkward spots." Max argued, nodding at his daughter. Brennan laughed out loud. "You two are totally nuts!" she said turning to hug her father.

Booth grabbed a glass of water and drank it in one go, then turned and waved the glass in the direction of Brennan "But I did find out something. A BIG something. So I suppose having Max there was a help. Kind of" he admitted. Max folded his arms across his chest and grinned, pleased with his part in the operation.

Brennan was intrigued and stepped over to Booth. "What did you find out? What?" she asked eagerly. Booth opened his mouth to tell her when she suddenly stared at him as her face went white. Booth quickly put the glass in the sink and managed to catch her as she was about to crash to the floor.

"Max! Call an ambulance!" Booth yelled. Christine came running in and burst into tears "Mommy!" she cried.

"And take Christine out of here!" he yelled again.

He sat on the floor, with her head in his lap "Bones. Baby. Wake up! Bones!" he cried as he pulled her hair from her face and gently slapped at her cheeks. Her eyes fluttered and she stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending her situation. She blinked and looked around, then back at Booth.

"what happened?" she asked as she tried to sit up. Booth held her down "You fainted. Just lie still for a bit. We've called an ambulance." he said. Brennan slapped at his hand as he stroked her face "No! Uncall them!" she yelled. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and blinked her eyes and used both her hands to drag her hair back off her face. Booth tried to rub her neck, but she pulled away from him "Don't! Just cancel the ambulance, please?" she said more gently. "I'm sorry. Trust me, I don't need an ambulance."

"But Bones! You passed out! Just dropped to the floor!" Booth said as he found his phone in the bottom of his jeans pocket and dialled 000. He cancelled the ambulance, apologising profusely for the false alarm. He answered a couple of questions, assuring them that she was OK, and hung up. Brennan had gotten to her feet, and was drinking a glass of water, leaning against the sink. "I'm fine Booth" she said, her eyes wide, head tilted.

Max popped his head around the corner and saw that she was up. "You OK honey?" he asked. Brennan waved him away. "Fine Dad. Can you just take Christine for a walk. I'm going to lay down for a bit and calm Booth down" she smiled. Max stared at her, his eyes squinting at her "You sure?" he asked. Brennan nodded "completely". Max turned, satisfied that his little girl was OK and grabbed Christine by the hand "Let's go for a walk baby. Mummy's fine. She's just tired" he spoke reassuringly to the little girl.

Booth got up off the floor and grabbed her by the shoulders "Bones, people don't just faint for no reason!" he said.

"I know. But they do faint from being pregnant" Brennan said quietly, staring into his eyes.

"You could have something really wrong Bones! What if you have a brain thing?" he continued, not hearing what she had said.

"Booth" she interrupted him.

"You could have a virus! Or be coming down with food poisoning! You ate that seafood last night. Maybe it was off!" he kept trying to think what might have caused her to faint.

"Booth! I don't have food poisoning or a brain thing!" she said again grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her. "I'm pregnant Booth." she said again, and waited for him to recognise her words.

"Bones what if" he stopped suddenly and blinked a few times, his voice losing volume, "what?" he said quietly, frowning at her "You're what?" he asked again.

"pregnant" she said simply and smiled shyly at him. "I did a test last night. Actually I did three tests." she added.

"Bones!" Booth grabbed her and picked her up whirling her around in a circle, which had an undesired effect as she promptly vomited down the front of his shirt.

"Ahh! Oh, eww.." he gulped to keep himself from gagging as he put her down and stared at the front of his shirt. Brennan stood for a moment, hand over her mouth, her eyes large. She turned and ran to the bathroom . Booth followed her, stripping off his shirt, trying to ignore the smell. He knocked on the door and pushed it open.

"Sorry" she said as she splashed her face with water then stood up and started undoing the buttons on her shirt to remove it. Booth dropped his shirt on the floor and stared at her, a goofy smile on his face. She threw her top on top of his and stood staring at him.

"It's on your pants too" she said, dismayed. He smiled as he started removing them.

"It's on yours too" he said shrugging. Brennan looked down and shuddered. She undid her shorts and pushed them down, stepping out of them.

Booth was grinning widely at her as she stood in her lacy bra and panties and kicked her shorts to the pile of soiled clothing. "Seems we need to clean this mess up" he said taking a step towards her. He reached past her and turned on the shower, letting his lips graze her shoulder. She smiled as his hands circled her and quickly removed her brassiere. "I don't think you need this" he said coyly as he threw it across the bathroom.

Brennan's mouth was twitching "Booth I just vomited on you." she said.

Booth grinned "You did. And you really need clean that up" he said nodding and pulling her into the shower, closing the frosted glass shower door.


	14. Chapter 14

Booth had arranged to meet Jeff and Brent outside the police department just after 9am. Max had been pushing to come along, but Booth had been firm.

Brennan had been sluggish this morning and she really needed to just stay in bed, so he simply told Max that he had to stay and look after Christine. After all, that was the reason they had brought him over to Australia in the first place. Sure, Max's nose was a bit out of joint, but he saw how tired his daughter was, and he knew, his place was there. Looking after his two girls. Booth had breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't get an argument from Max.

* * *

"Jeff" Booth said holding out his hand.

The young man shook Booth's hand "Morning Seeley! Lovely to see you again. This is my life partner, or as I like to say, my love partner Brent" he said, letting go of Booth's hand and cuddling the tall, thin man standing beside him. Booth held out his hand and Brent reluctantly took it "G'Day" he said. Booth let go of his limp wristed damp hand and shoved his hand deep into his pocket wiping his hand on the clean handkerchief he found at the bottom of it. He just didn't trust a man who couldn't shake hands properly.

"So Jeff has told you why you're both here this morning?" Booth asked.

Jeff didn't wait for Brent to reply "Oh yes! I told him we are specially chosen witnesses against Monty. Brent hates Monty, don't you sweetie?" he said, rather too cheerily.

Booth bit his bottom lip, flicking his eyes from Jeff, who was literally jigging on the spot, to Brent who stood sullenly beside him, and back to Jeff. "Right. OK, Superintendent Marshall is waiting for us. This way."

Marshall was on the phone as Booth showed the two men into the office. Marshall indicated the chairs and turned his back on them.

"Listen mate, I don't give a bloody rats arse what you say is protocol. If I can bring this bastard down, I'm gonna do it. Don't give me your bullshit Peter. I'm running this, and I'll bloody well run it however I bloody well want. If this dickhead is responsible, I'll find out and he'll go down. End of story. No. No. Is there something wrong with your bloody ears mate? NO! Look I have to go. Yes. Fine. Later." He spun around and slammed the phone back on the receiver and proclaimed loudly, "Wanker". Booth smirked, looking down at his shoes.

Marshall looked up and smiled as he held out his hand. He didn't stand, so both Jeff and Brent had to lean across the desk to shake his hand.

"Jeff. How's Mum and Dad?" he asked. Booth looked at Marshall surprised. Marshall grinned at him "It's a small town Booth. I pretty much know the parents of most of the younger kids in town. Jeff blushed "I'm not a kid any more Superintendent Marshall! I'm twenty two now!" he said. Marshall laughed, "Mate, I still think of you as that tubby little ruffian that used to tear around on your bright pink pushie, the streamers handing from the handlebars". Jeff laughed loudly "I can't believe you remember that! I loved that bike. I stole it from my cousin, remember I told you?" he turned and told Brent who actually showed some emotion and smiled and leaned in and kissed Jeff. "I remember." he said softly.

Marshall held out his hand to Brent, who shook it. "Brent? Is it? I don't think we've really spoken before. Which is good because it means you've kept out of trouble." he said. Brent nodded "Brent Standish" he said shortly.

Jeff, Brent and Booth sat down. Booth leaning back in the chair, arms resting on his thighs, feet together, his legs apart at the knees. Jeff and Brent automatically crossed their legs in the same direction, Jeff hooking his foot underneath Brent's calf. Booth's eyes flicked down and then back up at Marshall who screwed up his nose "This isn't bloody synchronised sitting, you two. Just untangle yourself from each other for the duration of this questioning."

Booth sniggered and muffled it beneath his hand that quickly flew up to his face.

"Right" Marshalls two feet landed heavily on the table, crossing his ankles and holding a clipboard in his hand. "Booth, just turn on that recorder, will you?" he asked. Booth nodded, leaning forwards and flicking the record button on the digital recorder on the desk, pushing it closer to Jeff and Brent.

Marshall looked from Jeff to Brent. "Ready boys?" he asked. The two young men both nodded, Jeff clamping his hands between his knees to stop himself from clapping.

Booth rolled his eyes and shook his head _that kid is way too perky_ he thought to himself.

Marshall cleared his throat and said the date and time, and the names of the boys and began the questioning session.

* * *

Booth walked Jeff and Brent to the front steps of the station.

"Thanks guys" he said, holding out a hand. The boys each shook it, then Jeff hooked his arm through Brent's "So did we do good Seeley?" he asked. Booth smiled "Yeah, you did pretty good Jeff. Look. I want to apologise for last night. I sort of think I might have lead you up the garden path a bit by not telling you who I was straight away." he said.

Jeff smiled, "Oh I knew you weren't just there checking out the scenery. You didn't look like the type of man that usually comes into the club. I mean, look at you! You're so masculine!" he said.

Booth felt his face start to burn "Uh, thanks?" he said. Jeff laughed "Trust me Seeley. Nobody in their right mind would ever think you were gay."

"More's the pity" Brent added winking at Booth, who's face burned even hotter. Brent had relaxed a lot through the interview and Booth could see that he was really in love with Jeff and actually, quite a pleasant young man.

"OK. Well like Marshall said. You cannot talk about this. At all. To anybody. Understand? That's why you signed that form. It could undermine the whole investigation. And we're so close now. Plus if you do, you could find yourself in jail."

Jeff grinned and made the same lip locking gesture that Booth had done the other night, then turned and locked Brent's lips too, looking at Booth and nodding his head. "Go on, get out of here you two!" Booth laughed and waved them away as he turned to go back into talk to Marshall about setting up a sting tomorrow.

* * *

It was 11:30am. Booth and Brennan were on their way to the morgue. They had dropped Max and Christine at the aquarium for the day. Max wanted to see it himself after hearing about it from Booth, and Christine was excited to go back.

"So Bones, let Marshall do most of the talking. You're OK being miked up?."

Brennan frowned, "Yes, I'm fine. But I want to ask him some medical questions. If he has the medical background that he says he has he should be able to answer them!"

Booth turned his attention away from the road and looked at her sucking his bottom lip in. She was right of course. It might help trip him up. But he just didn't want her to frighten him off and cause him to become suspicious. He really didn't feel like chasing someone down today.

"I'll think about it" he said looking back at the road.

Superintendent Marshall was waiting for them at the morgue. He had gone ahead and was priming Monty for a non-existent body to arrive.

Booth parked the car and turned to Brennan. "OK Bones. Basic questions, but don't fire them at him. Just ask casually. Like you still believe he's a medical doctor."

"But he's not a medical doctor" Brennan said, frowning.

"Yes I know. But he doesn't know that we know so you can't let him know." Booth said, then rubbed at his forehead.

Brennan's bottom lip was pushed out slightly, her frown deepened for a moment, then her eyes opened wide and her mouth opened "Oh! Oh, I get it. We're covering his eyes with wool!" she exclaimed.

Booth's dimples deepened "Pulling the wool over his eyes Bones. Pulling the wool." he said nodding. "We want to lull him into a false sense of security and hopefully, he'll make a mistake and either drop his guard or panic and say something that will incriminate him. We've got to be careful, because if he gets even a whiff of what we're trying to do, he'll run."

Brennan nodded, her eyes wide, "And you want me to be the bait. Because he admires and worships me." she said smiling. Booth looked down at his wedding ring, spinning it around, but not looking at her because he knew he would laugh "Yep. Mm-hmm. That's right." he said, pushing down the chuckle that was threatening to bubble up.

* * *

Booth had dropped Brennan off and was sitting in his car, the receiver switched on and ready to record everything. He adjusted the headset on his head and spoke into it softly "Bones. Can you hear me?"

A few seconds later her voice came through "yes Booth. Over"

He grinned "Bones, don't say over. That will give away the fact that you're miked up secretly"

"Oh. OK. Sorry. I'm about to go downstairs" her voice crackled in his ear as he pulled the earpiece out. "Bones? Sweetie? You don't have to yell. Just talk in your normal voice. These microphones are very sensitive and they pick up everything. OK?".

"Sorry. Over. I mean. Sorry" she responded. Booth rubbed at his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Great, now don't talk like you're interrogating him. Be natural. And don't fiddle with the earpiece. If I want to ask you something you'll hear me, but don't let on that you're listening to anything. You have to be careful Bones. Are you feeling OK?" he asked.

"Perfectly" she responded more normally. He heard a door bang and the hollow echo of her footsteps of her feet on the steps that led downstairs to the morgue.

* * *

"Ah Doctor Booth! Glad you could join us!" Marshall said.

"Thankyou!" she said. "Doctor Brython, I trust you're well?" she nodded at Monty, who dropped what he was doing and ran over to greet her, grasping her hand in his. "Temperance! I'm so thrilled you could join us!" he said. "I've been dying to work with you again. You know I really enjoyed that night we spent together." he gushed.

"Uh, you mean the night we worked together. May I have my hand back now Doctor" Monty interrupted her shaking his finger at her "Please, it's Monty" he said firmly.

Brennan swallowed, feeling awkward. Monty was still holding her hand, stroking the back of it with his. "Monty. Of course. May I have my hand please? I need to wash them." she said as she pulled her hand from his grasp rather sharply.

She walked over to the sink against the wall and thoroughly washed her hands. Dried them with the paper towel that she pulled from the rack on the wall, then turned around to face Monty who was behind her. She jumped. "Oh! Monty. Um, gloves?" she asked.

Monty smiled and bowed "Of course, this way" he grasped her elbow and started guiding her across the room.

"Monty!" Marshall bellowed "Bloody hell man, let the poor woman breathe!" He walked over and pulled Monty back from Brennan.

* * *

While they were waiting for their "body" to arrive, Brennan decided to take matters into her hands, despite Booth's warning. She wandered over to where Monty's desk was. She looked around for a few minutes then turned "Doct. Monty. I notice you don't have your medical licence displayed? Aren't you meant to?" she asked as casually as she could.

Monty looked up from what he was doing and stared at her. "I. I. The frame dropped off the wall and I have sent it away to be reframed" he stammered. Brennan pursed her lips and nodded "That's a shame. I would have liked to have seen and Australian licence. You know, to see if it's much different to our American ones."

Booth's voice hissed in her ear "steady Bones. Gently"

She sat down in Monty's chair and swivelled backwards and forwards for a moment "So what exactly has happened to the victim we're expecting?" she asked, fiddling with things on Monty's desk. She picked up a snowglobe and shook it, watching the little blue sparkles settle over a tiny island)

Monty stared at her for a moment "Um. Just a routine death I believe. Man in his sixties. Found by the wife on the bathroom floor. The paramedics have already said it was a heart attack. I don't expect to find anything different." he responded.

Brennan continued swivelling in the chair. "So how's the study going?" she asked.

"Study?" Monty asked confused. "Your degree. You mentioned it when we worked together" she said casually as she could.

Monty's eyes flicked backwards and forwards, he shoved a hand across his hair "Uh. Fine. I've been taking a bit of a break. Deferred." he mumbled.

Brennan was looking through the book case behind the desk. Almost all of her books were there, plus most of her medical journals. There were a lot of post it notes sticking up from pages on most of them. "You certainly weren't kidding when you said you had read all of my work!" she said.

Monty came over and sat on the edge of the desk. "Oh yes. I believe you are the most brilliant anthropologist that this century has seen" he effused.

"Well that's actually true." Brennan said, nodding. She picked up a book and flicked through the pages quickly. She returned it to the shelf and picked up another one.

Monty stood up suddenly "So why don't you come over here and we'll prepare the instruments!" his voice a little sharp. Brennan looked up from the book she had in her hands for a moment. Monty was staring at her. She looked back at the book, then back at Monty. His eyes were bulging. A bead of sweat was making it's way down the side of his face, despite the cool temperature down in the morgue.

Brennan opened the book and looked down flicking through the pages. She looked up at Monty who's face had blanched. She picked something out of the book and looked at it more closely. She looked up at Marshall and nodded. "Monty. Why do you have pictures of you and Christopher Belton?" she asked clearly. She wanted to make sure that Booth heard her.

Monty backed up a few steps. "Chris? Oh him. I. I just met him at the local club recently. He's gone home to America now." Monty said, the pitch of his voice rising slightly. Brennan flicked the pages of the book, holding it upside down and several more photographs fell out of the pages onto the desk. She picked them up and stared at them. Pictures that Monty had taken of him and Chris together. Monty and Chris lying naked on a bed. Monty and Chris drinking wine on a blanket somewhere. Monty and Chris camping. Chris lying on a swag.

Brennan picked up that photo and held it up for him to see. "Funny. This is exactly the same type of swag we found Chris in" she said. Monty backed up a few more steps, glancing back to see how far he was from the door. "Those are very common in the outback" he stammered.

Brennan stood up and walked towards him, still holding the photograph out. "I'm sure they are, but I'm particularly interested in the tree in the background of this photo. Where exactly was this taken Monty." she asked louder. Monty's eyes were wild now.

He suddenly dived to his right and grabbed a scalpel off of the work table, and held it out in front of him. "Don't!" he yelled. He was looking wildly between Marshall and Brennan, his hand waving the blade wildly in front of him.

"You took this at the billabong didn't you? Right before you killed him." Brennan stepped closer.

Monty had backed up almost to the door, he was panicking. Marshall tried to approach him from the side but Monty slashed the blade in his direction "Don't come any closer. You have to let me explain. It was an accident. I didn't mean it. I didn't!" he screeched.

"Monty, you have to tell us the truth now. It will be much better for you if you do" Brennan cajoled, trying to make her voice calm, her hands extended palms facing forwards.

"NO!" Monty screamed, spittle flying from his mouth, his eyes welling up. "I had to! He found out. He would have ruined my life here! I couldn't let that happen. That bitch was going to turn me in! He wasn't even a real man! He couldn't even have sex properly!" as he turned to run up the stairs, instead he crashed into Booth who was standing right behind him, handcuffs in one hand. As Monty hit him, Booth slammed his fist into the man's arm causing him to drop the scalpel blade. He then punched him in the chest, making Monty sprawl backwards onto the floor, the scalpel falling from his hand and skidding across the floor. Marshall bent down and used a paper towel to retrieve it for evidence.

Brennan ran over and before Monty could get up she placed her foot on his throat pinning him down. Booth smiled at her as she dug her heel into his shoulder, one more time for good measure, then kneeled down and turned Monty over onto his stomach, pulling his arms roughly behind him and slapping on the cuffs, making the man squeal. "Get up Python" Booth snarled in his ear, dragging him roughly to his feet.

Marshall stepped up and stared into Monty's face for a moment then turned and looked at Brennan. "You OK love?" he asked. Brennan's face had blanched and she wiped a hand over her forehead "Yes I think" her sentence cut off by the wave of nausea that flowed over her. She promptly bent over and vomited on Marshall's boots. She stood up and stared at him, her face mortified, a hand over her mouth.

"Guess not" Marshall said as he guided her over to a chair, sat her down and went to get her a glass of water. Booth had pushed Monty into a chair and was standing behind him pushing down on his shoulders so he didn't try to move. "Bones?" he asked. Brennan waved him away "I'm fine. Just morning sickness" she said then looked at the clock. "err or afternoon sickness. " she said smiling weakly as she wiped her face with the damp cloth Marshall handed her.

Monty suddenly screamed "No! You can't have his baby!" Booth let his fist connect with Monty's cheek as he knocked the man out, his head snapping to the side, then flopping down towards his chest. "Shut up Python!" he yelled. He looked up at Marshall and grinned "I've been dying to do that for ages." he said. Marshall nodded, "Fair enough" he said.

* * *

Questioning Monty had not gone easily. Booth and Marshall had spent eight hours grilling him. The man was teetering on the edge of unbridled insanity. At one point they had to have him restrained. Booth was exhausted. Marshall was just aggravated. He'd missed his dinner for the third night in a row and was now extremely grouchy.

A thorough search of his home had uncovered something else disturbing. The passports of three young men. A database investigation turned up matches with three missing persons. One had been missing for almost five years. The others within the last two years.

They definitely had enough to charge him with. With all the photo's they found, the confession, and the new evidence, they had more than enough. Plus there was the whole masquerading as a doctor thing. Monty had clearly thought he was more clever than he actually was. He had gotten overly confident, and of course that's always the moment when you drop your guard and make mistakes. The courts would have a field day with this guy, if he wasn't locked up in an insane asylum first.

* * *

"So basically, Monty had actually gone to university and started a medical career. Realised that he couldn't cope, and dropped out. Found himself in Townsville and pretty much faked his way into the job at the morgue. He had gotten so good at pretending, he had them convinced he was studying to be a forensic scientist. Country towns find it hard to get highly qualified people. They believed him and were happy to have him. He would have gotten away with it too I think had Chris not come along.

Somehow, during the week that he spent with Monty, Chris had discovered his secret. In the meantime, Monty had arranged a camping trip. They came into the park from the back corner of the park. Seems he simply had cut through the fencing.

Chris decided to confront Monty about his masquerade. He told him he couldn't just ignore what Monty was doing. It was illegal. Christ was trying to get him to turn himself in. Monty lost control and strangled him. Put him in the swag and somehow, he got him into that tree.

That partial print we weren't sure about? It was Monty's. He thought he was so smart." Booth finished.

Brennan lay back against into his shoulder, his arm circling her, his hand stroking her arm.

"He hadn't reckoned on us turning up and solving the murder." she sighed.

Booth squeezed her shoulder, pulling her closer still. "You were amazing" he said leaning in and kissing her temple.

Brennan smiled "I know" she said. "I do feel a bit bad about throwing up on Marshall's shoes though. I can't believe he didn't even say anything!"

Booth laughed "That Marshall is one of a kind. I've really enjoyed working with him. And, guess what?" he asked. Brennan turned and looked at him, shrugging "what?"

Booth lay his head back "We solved it with two days to spare! We can leave tomorrow and head down to the Gold Coast!" he announced happily. Brennan shifted slightly turning towards him and wrapped an arm across his stomach, her hand curling around his hip, her face pressed against his chest. "That's great! Christine will be so happy. She told me yesterday that she misses you." Brennan said, then yawned.

Booth felt a tug in his chest "I feel a bit bad that we sort of dumped her on your dad while we got involved with this case" he said, feeling guilty.

Brennan sighed "She'll be fine. She's had a great time with Dad. And it's been good for him too. Although I think he's ready to go home." she said sleepily.

Booth lay his cheek against her hair "He said he's packed and ready to go home. I'll drive him to the airport tomorrow afternoon. We can pack up and be on our way the following morning. And, I've contacted work. We're going to extend our holiday by two weeks to make up for all of this. It'll be great. I promise the next three weeks will be just about you, Christine and me. OK?" Booth said.

"Bones?"

"Honey?"

He bent forwards and looked at Brennan's face. Her eyes were closed, her breathing had softened. She was asleep. Booth smiled and leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes.

_What a holiday this had been so far. A murder, a new baby on the way, and a new friend in Marshall. Yeah, what a holiday this has been. _


	15. Chapter 15

"He should be arriving any minute, surely?" Booth paced backwards and forwards in the airport arrivals lounge. Brennan sat on a seat with Christine, who was happily colouring in. The staff at the arrivals counter had taken pity on them having to wait for the delayed flight from London, and had presented Christine with a colouring book about Queensland and some crayons.

Brennan yawned and stretched out her legs and leaned back in the chair. Her hands lay lightly across her belly, where the new life they had created was growing. She smiled to herself and rubbed one hand across her tummy.

"What if something has happened? What if the plane was redirected?" Booth muttered, his voice agitated.

Brennan placed her hands on the arms of the seat, pushed herself up and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his body, pinning his arms to his side.

"He'll be here Booth. We know the flight was delayed. We know it's due to land soon. Relax" she crooned into his ear.

Booth took a breath and turned his face to hers. Her eyes, clear, shining, reassuring him. He blinked and she was smiling now, her eyes crinkling at the edges. He leaned in and kissed her deeply. She always knew how to calm him down. Just being in her arms had a cathartic effect on him, relaxing his mind and body. Her lips returned his kiss, gentle.

"Mommy, do you always have to kiss when we're out? Everybody is staring!" Christine announced from her chair. Brennan grinned against Booth's mouth. "She's probably right" she said turning and seeing several people smiling at them. Her face reddening as she let go of her handsome husband. She turned to walk back to Christine and Booth reached out and smacked her on her rear end. She stopped and turned around to see him winking at her, grinning from ear to ear. She lowered her lashes over her eyes and turned around and sashayed back to Christine, knowing that he was watching her. Him and everyone else in the arrivals lounge.

"Are you excited that your big brother is coming to spend the last week of our holiday with us?" she asked her daughter. Christine shrugged "Kind of. He's so old now. He never wants to play with me. Can I have a baby brother or sister Mommy?" she asked suddenly. Brennan blinked several times and sat back in her seat.

They had not told Christine that they were having another baby. She was only six or seven weeks, after all. "Maybe soon, honey. But for now you will have to make do with Parker, OK? I'm sure you'll have fun with him." she said reassuringly. Christine stared at her dolefully. _She really looks so much like Booth when he's sulking _ she thought to herself as Christine turned her eyes back to her colouring book.

_Flight 673 from London has landed _a voice came over the loudspeakers above them.

"Finally!" Booth said, his hands flinging up into the air. Brennan looked over at him "Booth" she said. He turned and looked at her. She was patting the seat beside her, indicating that he come an sit down.

"He still has to go through customs. Sit down Booth" she said. He sighed and walked over and dropped heavily into the seat, making both Christine and Brennan bounce in theirs.

"Christine doesn't think that Parker likes spending time with her" Brennan whispered to Booth, who turned and looked at her suddenly. "What do you mean? He's her big brother! He loves her!" he responded sharply. Brennan lay her hand on his arm "Of course he loves her, but he's a teenager Booth. He's kind of outgrown her. She still wants to play and he's more interested in computer games and sport. It's natural. You know she asked me if we could give her a baby brother or sister just a little while ago." she nodded at Booth.

Booth's eyes widened "You didn't tell her though. It's way too soon. Because you know, if we did, and then something" Brennan placed a hand over his mouth. "No I didn't tell her. But at least it's nice that she thinks it would be a good thing. To be honest I wasn't sure how Christine would react to having a sibling. She's been our whole focus for almost six years!"

Booth kissed the palm of her hand before she removed it from his mouth. "She's going to be the big sister, like Parker was to her." Booth said smiling at the top of his daughters sandy curls. He noticed that her hair was getting darker and reached out and picked up a curl and wound it around his finger. Christine looked up at her father and he smiled, his heart filling up with love for this little girl so much like him. _Soon there would be another little Booth_. He wondered if he, because they surely would have a boy this time, would look like Bones. Blue eyed and long limbed, strong jaw, brown hair. He could almost see him in his mind, running around the back yard, catching a football that he had thrown to him.

"Booth." Brennan's voice broke through his daydream.

"Huh?" he said, unable to recall what she had said.

"Look" she said pointing. Booth followed her finger and saw a brown curly headed young man walking towards them. Striding towards them. _when did he get that tall?_ Booth sat watching him in wonder.

Brennan stood up and walked towards Parker and hugged him, and kissed his cheek. "Parker, so glad you finally arrived! Your Dad was getting anxious." Brennan said. Parker laughed. "He would. It's great to be here Mom." he said, smiling at her. Brennan blinked. Parkers voice was so deep now, even deeper than his father's!

Booth grabbed him and wrapped him up in a bear hug. Parker wriggled, but was unable to hug him back as his arms were pinned to his sides by Booth. "Dad! I'm here, OK. No need to crush the life out of me" he laughed. Booth let his grip loosen and pulled back, grabbing Parkers shoulders. "Just look at the size of you! When did this happen?" he asked looking him up and down. Parker was his height now. "And your voice! What happened to my little boy?" Booth wailed.

Parker laughed and shrugged "Dunno. Just happened I guess. And what about you?" he said patting Booths belly. "Been enjoying the Aussie food and beer a bit?" he asked jokingly. Booth looked down at his belly. He had actually put on a bit of weight over the last few weeks. _But isn't that what holidays are about? Of course they are. _ he thought, but never the less sucked in his belly.

"Hey Chritsy! Aren't you going to come and say hello?" Parker called out to Christine, using his nickname for her. She looked up from her colouring book, trying to keep a grumpy face, but failed. She loved Parker dearly. He was her big brother! She put her book down and jumped off the chair and ran over into his arms. He lifted her high up above him "Just look at you Christine! You've gotten so big!" he exclaimed as he lowered her to the ground, kissing her cheek as he did. Christine puffed out her chest and put her hands on her hips "I'm nearly six! I'm having my party in Australia!" she said proudly.

"God she looks like you Dad" Parker laughed. Booth frowned and put his hands on his hips "What do you mean?"

Parker looked at Brennan who burst out laughing. There they were, father and daughter, clones, hands on hips, feet apart, chin jutting out, frowning. Identical. Brennan shook her head "Never mind Booth, let's go get Parker's bag and go to the hotel. "Are you tired? Hungry?" she asked Parker, who shrugged, "I could eat" he said nodding. Booth smiled to himself. _Of course he could eat, he's a teenager._

* * *

They had retrieved Parker's bag and were driving back to the hotel. They decided to drop his bag and go straight out for a meal. Parker said he wasn't tired, but both Booth and Brennan knew that after a couple of hours he would be exhausted and he'd need to sleep. They walked down the road to a seafood place and got a table outside where Parker could look at the ocean.

"Look at that sand! It's so white!" Parker said excitedly. "Can you surf here?" he asked. Booth frowned "Surf? Since when do you surf?" he asked. Parker shrugged, "for a while now. Mom let's me go away on weekends with friends to this great surfing spot in Cornwall. It's freezing cold of course, but the waves are rad! We camp out, have bonfires. It's awesome! And the drinking age is 18! I've only got 8 months to go! But did you know, in England, I can drink when I go out with Mom for dinner!"

"Rad?" Booth echoed. Booth stared at this stranger in front of him. Six years ago Parker had loved playing football and ice hockey, comic books, picnics. He was still a little kid six years ago. Short, with a curly mop of blonde hair, peachy chubby cheeks, and a gap toothed grin. This person in front of him was a young man! Suddenly, Parker's words resonated with Booth "Wait! You drink? Since when? And why would your mother even let you?" Booth asked concerned. Parker waved him away "Not every country is as uptight as the US about drinking Dad." he said. Booth leaned in and stared at him "I don't want you drinking." he said seriously. "Are you shaving?" he added reaching out to touch Parkers cheek. Parker pulled back and frowned "Of course! Every day! Dad, I'm 17." he said.

"Oh look, here's our food!" Brennan's voice breaking up the tension between father and son. No doubt there would be further conversations about the drinking thing, but for now she just wanted them to have a nice family dinner. "So how's your Mom and Adrian?" Brennan asked Parker. Parker shrugged "They broke up. Shocker." he said rolling his eyes. "She never seems to be able to stay in a relationship. She reckons Dad was the one that got away." His eyes suddenly widened, and he swallowed as he realised what he had just said. "Dinner looks great!" he tried to change the subject, seeing the look on Brennan's face.

They had platters of fresh seafood and salads placed on the table in front of them, along with a large basket of steaming hot, crispy potato chips. "They call them chips here, not fries." Christine said, hoping to impress her big brother. "yeah we have chips in England" he said as he loaded his plate up with prawns, scallops, salad and chips. Christine looked back down at her plate, a little disappointed that she hadn't impressed her big brother. He looked across the table and saw her face, "but they're not as good as these ones Chritsy!" he said. The little girl looked up and grinned widely. "They're so yummy!" she agreed.

Parker was the only person in the whole wide world who called her Chritsy. She loved it. It was his special name for her. He had made it up when she was two. Of course he hadn't seen her for about two and a half years, and truth be told, he had actually missed her. She had grown up so much since he saw her last. Now he sort of understood what his mother always said about him growing up too quick.

Booth smiled at his two children, the earlier tension broken, then up at Brennan who was pushing her food around her plate. "Upset tummy?" he asked. She looked up at him and nodded, picking up her glass. "I'm just going to stick to water at the moment" she said. "I'm sure I wasn't this sick with Christine" she whispered. Booth reached over and stroked the back of her hand which was resting on the table. "Are you sure you don't want to go to a doctor and have everything checked out?" he said, worried.

"No. I'm perfectly fine. I will see my own OBGYN when I get home" she hissed stubbornly. Booth sucked on his bottom lip. He wished she would just go and get things confirmed, but Bones, was. Strong willed. She would do what she wanted, when she wanted. And he wouldn't be able to change her mind. _I just hope everything is OK_ he thought as he peeled a prawn and popped it into his mouth. The sweet and juicy flesh melting in his mouth, making him close his eyes and smile. "Oh Bones, this is just so good!" he said, opening his eyes in time to see her running in the direction of the ladies room.

He looked at Parker and Christine who were watching their mother weave between tables, almost knocking over a drink waiter. They looked at Booth who shrugged "Let's eat!" and promptly shoved another prawn into his mouth to avoid answering any question that might be raised.

* * *

Parker was still asleep at ten thirty the following day. As predicted, he was yawning by eight thirty, and in bed and asleep by nine thirty last night. Christine was pacing up and down outside his door. They were going to go on a glass bottomed boat trip this afternoon. Booth was excited to see the Great Barrier Reef. Brennan had wanted to go snorkeling, but Booth had put his foot down. He didn't want her doing anything that might put her and the baby at risk, and after a few stern words, she had backed down. Despite all of his failed attempts at controlling her, she understood that it was because he loved and adored her. And, truth be told, she realised that she could act a little impulsively at times, and he was right. It was very early in the pregnancy, she hadn't seen a doctor and she had been quite ill, so she reluctantly gave in on the snorkeling.

"When is Parker going to get up Daddy?" Christine asked Booth. He was sitting at the table reading the paper. "We'll be late!" she wailed. Booth looked up at his daughter. "Sweetie, we've still got a couple of hours before we have to go. He'll wake up soon." Christine's bottom lip dropped and she plopped down on the floor "Whe-en?" she whined, dragging the word out. Booth's cheeks dimpled as he tried to contain his grin. His daughter could be very dramatic when she chose to. "Look, how about we give him half an hour, then if he's not up, you can go in and wake him up?" Booth said. Christine lay on her back and waggled her arms and legs in the air in celebration "Hooray!" she yelled.

Booth smirked, he knew that she was trying to wake Parker up, but decided to let it go. He was actually looking forward to going too. They were going to be served lunch on the boat, so all Parker needed to do was shower, get dressed, and they could get going.

Brennan came out of the bathroom, she looked refreshed and beautiful. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, that bounced behind her, blue and white striped tee, and blue mid thigh length shorts that showed off her long, tanned legs, her feet pushed into white sneakers. "You look" Booth was lost for words, so he simply walked over to her, lifted her off her feet and kissed her deeply. He put her back down on her feet and smiled at her "beautiful" he finished. Brennan smiled and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Booth stepped past her, turning around to look at her as he backed into the bathroom. _I am one lucky guy_ he thought as he closed the door. He had a quick shower, rubbed some gel through his hair, pushing it up in the front, turned left and right, inspecting himself, then nodded. He didn't need to shave, being highly evolved meant he didn't grow a lot of facial hair very quickly. Something that Brennan often teased him about. He didn't care. He saved a fortune in razor blades.

He pulled on a white tee, and khaki shorts, pushed his feet into khaki vans and checked his hair one more time. His skin was tanned and healthy looking. He had a sparkle in his eye, partially because of him being relaxed and partially because of excitement of their impending new parenthood. He couldn't think of a more exciting thing to have happened while on vacation. He nodded at himself in the mirror, and walked out into the living room.

Parker was sitting on the arm of the couch chatting to Brennan. "Finally dragged your ass out of that bed, huh?" he asked Parker who grinned and threw a cushion at Booth. "No thanks to my bratty little sister!" he laughed. "Do you know how scary it is opening your eyes and seeing a face, like, this close to you?" he said holding up his hand, the tips of his thumb and forefinger barely apart. Booth burst out laughing, remembering how Christine used to do that to him. He would open his eyes and she would be right there, her nose almost touching his, waiting for him to wake up. "Actually, yes. I do know! You have" he looked at his watch "eighteen minutes to shower and dress" he said to Parker, who stood up and stretched. "I'll be ready in twelve" he said, punching his father in the arm as he walked past him.


	16. Chapter 16

Their last 10 days with Parker was almost over. They had been on a glass bottomed boat trip out over the Great Barrier Reef. They had gone down to the Gold Coast and spent three days visiting the theme parks.

Christine's favourite was their day at Dream World. Of course, it was her sixth birthday, which made it an extra special family outing. She loved the tigers on Tiger Island, and Parker had bought her a rather large stuffed tiger, in spite of Booth's protests about how they were going to fit it in their luggage along with the stuffed kangaroo and koala she had gotten from the Billabong.

Christine had also had great fun with the Madagascar characters and she had spent a lot of time on the Shrek rides. Booth and Brennan had followed her around Dream World, laughing at her as she frolicked with the many characters from her favourite movies. Booth even got in on some of the fun, playing with Kung Fu Panda. Brennan's camera was working overtime. Parker helped out by standing with Christine in the lines so that Brennan could sit down and rest. She was extremely tired and still feeling nauseous, but decided to just push on so as to not spoil the day for her family. They had finished off the day with cake and presents.

Parker and Booth loved their day at Movie World. They had gone on all the scary rides together. Actually, Parker had dragged Booth on to all the scary rides, and it was all fun and games until the Batwing Spaceshot. That was the finish for Booth. He was not particularly thrilled with the concept of the ride, but Parker had goaded him. Calling him an old man, daring him. And of course, Booth, being the father, wanted to put his almost adult son back in his place, and went on the ride. Alone.

The Seeley Booth that came off the ride however, was not full of the bravado he had exuded earlier. In fact, Booth stepped off the ride, doubled over and vomited on the shoes of a woman waiting for her son. Much to the amusement of Parker, and about a hundred people who were in the vicinity.

Of course Brennan had captured it all on film before running for the nearest rubbish bin and emptying her own stomach. Parker and Christine were falling over laughing at their parents, who had turned shades of green and grey respectively. Neither Booth, nor Brennan were overly in the mood for more rides, so they had left Christine in the care of her older brother with strict instructions not to allow her on any rides that weren't designed for children under eight years old.

They had retired to the Dirty Harry Bar where they sipped tall glasses of iced tea and watched the Dirty Harry movie, while snuggled together in a comfy booth. Booth vowed then and there that he would never again go on anything that went up and down or round and round. Brennan smiled to herself, knowing that he probably would the next time that one of his children dared him to.

On their third to last day, Booth had received a phone call from Marshall. He was summonsed to a Brisbane court for the trial of one, Monty Alwin Brython. Brennan had wanted to go, but again, was ill. Booth had finally had enough and demanded she go to a doctor. Brennan had tried to argue, but in the end, she felt so dreadful and had terrible dreams that there was something wrong with the baby, that she agreed. She had an appointment that same day. Booth desperately wanted to go with her, but couldn't. She assured him that all would be well. Parker was there to look after Christine, and in the end, he simply had no option but to agree.

* * *

Brennan sat staring at the young Doctor sitting opposite her. She was frowning, her brows knitted together, her nose crinkled and her top lip curled. "No. That's just not possible" she said. The Doctor smiled "I understand you must be surprised. It's quite a common reaction to this sort of news. But I assure you, as you can see from the ultrasound pictures" Brennan shook her head "But. There isn't any history in either of our families" she countered. The Doctor smiled at her. " I can go through the results again" she said.

Brennan was staring down at the picture in her hands, then looked up at the screen, at the blown up version of what she was holding. There was no denying it. "No. I accept that you are correct. It's just that I'm having trouble processing the information." Brennan said.

The doctor stood up and came around the desk holding out a hand "Well. Congratulations Mrs Booth. And good luck. I'm sure your family will be thrilled." she said. Brennan smiled wanly _Actually I'll be surprised if Booth doesn't faint dead away from shock _she thought as she shook the hand proffered to her. "And have a safe journey home" the Doctor said as she showed Brennan out to the reception area.

* * *

Booth was lying on the bed. He was tired. He had sat through six hours of evidence and arguments. But in the end, Monty Brython was right where he belonged. Locked away behind bars. And he would be there for a long, long time.

Brennan climbed into the bed and slipped under the sheet. It was a coolish evening, but not cold enough to warrant more than a sheet. She sighed heavily as she turned her head and stared at Booth. "So?" she asked. He shuffled down in the bed so that he was lying next to her, flipping onto his side, his head supported in his hand, his elbow pressing into the mattress. "He got four consecutive life sentences with a non parole period of 50 years. Plus another fifteen for fraud and impersonation. He also has to pay about $890,000 in fines and illegally garnished wages, which we both know he'll never pay back. They are selling all his assets and that's all they'll ever get out of him. But, in the end, Monty won't ever see the outside world again. " he explained.

Brennan pushed out her bottom lip and nodded "he deserves every thing he got" she said softly. Booth yawned "It was terrible Bones. The families of those other three boys were there . Their faces when the photos were presented as evidence to the court. They had no idea what had happened to their children. I can't even imagine" Brennan pressed her hand against his lips, stopping him from saying the words.

Booth always absorbed some of the pain from parents of young victims. He couldn't help it. It was his nature. Despite his sometimes crusty front, he was a deeply sensitive man, especially where child victims were concerned. "Shhh. Don't think about it any more. It's over. Plus." she hesitated, turning and opening the bedside cabinet drawer and picking up the picture she had put in there earlier in the afternoon.

"I have something to show you." she said holding the picture against her chest. Booth suddenly perked up and pushed himself up so that he was sitting with his back against the headboard. His smile, hesitant "Everything is alright?" he asked, his voice wavering.

Brennan pushed herself up, sitting, like he. She handed him the photograph.

Booth stared at it, turned it upside down, then turned it ninety degrees, his face screwed up. He was terrible at these things. He had no idea what he was actually looking at, apart from the fact that it was an ultrasound picture. "This is him?" he asked suddenly, smiling.

Brennan looked down at her hands, fingers linked, resting on her lap. She pulled her hands apart and started smoothing out the sheet over her legs "That's our babies hearts" she said softly, not looking at Booth, rather, concentrating on trying to make the sheet follow the contour of her legs beneath it.

"So which bit is his head" he said still turning the picture around. Brennan smiled as she bent her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She knew that he would catch on in a minute.

"Wait. What did you just say?" he suddenly asked, turning and staring at her, his mouth hanging open slightly, brow furrowed.

Brennan turned her head and lay her cheek against her knees "I said, that is an ultrasound photo of our babies". Booth stared at her, his mouth dropping open further. "Babies? As in more than one baby?" he asked. Brennan smiled and nodded, her head still resting on her knees. She loved watching his face when presented with something he wasn't expecting. The frown, the open mouth, the slight crinkle on the bridge of his nose, then his eyes, the sparkle starting, his eyebrows raising up, the corners of his mouth lifting and making his cheeks dimple like a little boy, and that smile. Wide, open, his straight white teeth showing, like a Cheshire cat.

"Twins? We're having TWINS?" he practically bellowed as he grabbed her pulling her to him and kissing her deeply. "Bones, just say the words, so that I know I'm not just imagining or making it up" he said urgently.

Brennan sat, his arms wrapped around her body. She tilted her head and stared into his eyes, so warm and happy. "We're having twins Booth. Two babies. Identical it appears." she said, then started crying "I'm having twins" she blubbered and pressed her face into his chest.

Booth panicked "What's wrong. Is something wrong with them? Or you? Bones?" he tried to lift her chin, but she kept her face pressed into his bare chest, her tears hot on his skin. He sat holding her, worrying, alternately patting and stroking her back, waiting for her to stop sobbing and talk to him.

Finally she lifted her head and smiled "We're having twins Booth" she said again. Booth looked at her, concern clouding his face "Bones? Is everything, you know. Right?" he asked. She suddenly grinned widely and laughed "They're perfect. This is why I've been so ill. My body is just overwhelmed with hormones. But I'm OK. Everything is good. Of course that picture really only shows two embryos and two heartbeats. Strong ones. And one embryonic sack, so we know they are identical."

Booth shook his head, "But there aren't any twins either of our families!" he said. Brennan nodded "I know, but there isn't any hereditary trait that influences a predisposition to having Monozygotic twins" she said. Booth frowned, his mouth turning down on the corners "Manyzonic?" he mumbled. Brennan smiled at him "Monozygotic. It means identical. They usually occur only 3 in 1000 pregnancies." she explained.

"Wow" Booth leaned back on his pillow, both hands cupping the back of his head. "WOW!" he said again turning and grinning at Brennan, who snuggled up to him, leaning against his chest, her head under his arm. She smiled to herself, knowing that Booth was internally puffing up his chest at his own super sperm.

"Happy?" she asked softly, stroking his stomach with her fingertips. Booth pulled his hand out from behind his head and wrapped his arm around her, his hand holding her closer to him. "Of course I'm happy. I'm ecstatic! Twins! Are they boys?" he asked suddenly. Brennan laughed and turned to look up at him. "I'm a little over six weeks Booth. We won't know that for quite some time. To be honest, I don't think I want to know." she said.

Booth was looking up at the ceiling, mentally trying to do the maths. "I got pregnant our first week here" she answered his unspoken question. He looked down and grinned. "Our holiday babies" he laughed.

"Booth, let's not say anything to the kids yet. Or to anyone really. Multiple pregnancies have their own risks. So" Booth cut her off "Of course. It's our special secret for now. Bones." he swallowed as the lump rose in his throat and the tears pricked at his eyes.

"I love you Bones" his voice, no more that a whisper as he dipped his head to kiss her deeply.

* * *

Booth pushed open the door of their house and let Brennan, Christine and Parker enter in front of him. He stepped through the door dropping the two suitcases he was carrying on the floor. He went back out to grab another two bags and pay the cab driver.

He walked into the living room and looked around, throwing his arms out and spinning in a circle.

"Man, it's great to be home again!" he announced loudly. Brennan stood over by the kitchen counter smiling at him, one hand unconsciously resting on her stomach.

They had spent almost eight amazing weeks in Australia. They had seen things they never dreamed even existed. They had swam in oceans so green and warm, with sand so fine and white that you thought you were in a travel catalogue. They had lain under skies so blue with the sun so warm, until they had turned golden brown. They had shown Christine things that children her age rarely got to see. They had gotten caught up in a murder case, which they had been able to help solve. They had made new friends. Booth had gotten to spend time with Parker for the first time in years. And they had created new life. Two new lives.

Brennan closed her eyes and smiled.

She felt his warm breath on her face just before his lips pressed against hers. She didn't open her eyes, just her mouth as his tongue explored hers, his arms enveloping her, wrapping her up with his love.

It really was good to be home.


End file.
